


A Class of Their Own

by asimplesojourn



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Asexual Sans/Reader, College, Five Years Later, Gen, Gender Neutral Pronouns, I'm abiding more by Toby's description of him, Kinda AU, Mentions of Racism, Mild Language, My First Fanfic, Probably gonna keep this SFW, Reader Is Not Frisk, Slice of Life, Slow Build, This thing is full of awful puns, What a magical moment this is., and will continue to remain as such, like a wet campfire, this is a slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-26
Updated: 2016-02-05
Packaged: 2018-05-03 11:31:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 28,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5289077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asimplesojourn/pseuds/asimplesojourn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As much as you love STEM and your major, you think you might just have it out for your year long physics course. Luckily, help can come from unlikely places, and all may not be as lost as you think. Then again, between balancing school and work, it was already pretty chaotic. College only seemed to get more interesting once monsters were added to the mix.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Class Assessment

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go.
> 
> (oh god)

Your fingers drummed restlessly against the desk as you waited for your physics class to start. The lecture hall was full up, with something close to two hundred students, if you remembered the number of available seats from when you’d signed up online last semester. You had little doubt that you’d see much less than that in the coming weeks. You were just hoping that you weren’t going to end up one of those empty seats in the long run.

If you were being quite honest with yourself, you were terrified. You could see the signs. You had the motley crew of your drumming finger and the nervous bounce of your leg. Not to mention you’d also taken out and rearranged your calculator, notebook, and pencil on your small acreage of desk at least three different times. There still never seemed to be enough room for all three of the items at once. You’d given up and balanced your calculator precariously on the edge of your desk and finally shoved your pencil behind your ear. Your notebook, folded over, at least helped keep some space for yourself. Your backpack was another story entirely. You had basically parked your feet on top of it as gingerly as you could, not wanting to crush the potato chips you’d stored for a snack later inside.

Lecture halls just weren’t built for spreading out in mind. Real estate was a precious commodity, and students were intended to be packed like sardines in order to make certain that they got the credits they needed without too much of a fuss. Admittedly some rows were worse off than others. The front rows were zealously crowded, while the back rows were somewhat more sparse. But only just.

You found yourself sharing a row with several other humans, and since you were making a discrimination regarding your own species, it might be best to mention the fact that there were indeed quite a few monsters littering the lecture hall. 

From your higher vantage point in the stadium-esque seating, you could see smaller clusters of monsters, grouped together and talking amongst themselves in the before-class ruckus. The humans had given them a berth of a couple seats in almost every location where the space could be afforded that you saw them.

A frown tugged at your lips at this realization.

It wasn’t too unexpected you supposed. It’d been a few years since the monsters had emerged from the depths of the Underground, and although communications had gone a long way and protection and citizenship laws were in place...things were still….rocky. Like the race riots of the 20th century, there was a lot of societal upheaval on the matter. Not to mention the slews of hate crimes and racism that had been occurring on the side while matters were attempted to be settled.

The group from Mt. Ebott had been the first to emerge, but there had been others who had rose from the depths of the underground all over when the ‘barrier fell’ as you’d heard it described on one television interview. Monsters had integrated into society, and although not everyone was happy about it...it looked like they were here to stay. For better or for worse.

Although you yourself experienced some trepidation on monsters, if only because you never knew what to expect with them, you couldn’t help but find them...interesting. They were always unique to behold, coming in different shapes and sizes. Not all of them appeared humanoid either, which could be baffling when you tried to incorporate them in a classroom setting. There was one monster down towards the front who didn’t appear to have fingers or hands, merely hooves, and you wondered how in the world they were even going to take notes.

Some other monsters seemed like they got the luckier end of the deal however.

A prime example of that universal rule was a few seats down from you. The monster was what appeared for all intents and purposes to be a living skeleton. They looked more or less like a human in design, aside from being….well...a skeleton. The professor still hadn’t shown up, so you took the opportunity to openly study them.

They were stoutly built, or at least appeared to be. It was hard to tell, due to the fact that they were wearing a heavy coat (you could only grimace at that, thinking of the late August heat outside), though the shorts they wore revealed the bones that comprised the lower half of their legs leading down to a pair of fluffy slippers. You blinked, taken aback a moment by the eccentric choice in footwear. Then again...you’d worn your pajamas to class on more than one occasion when finals had rolled around last May, so you doubted you really had room to comment on that.

Your eyes drifted back upwards to study their face. Their eyes were closed, which only served to once again baffle you. How could a skeleton even close their eyes if they didn’t have any? Yet the sockets had collapsed downwards, acting like eyelids but in a more solid looking form. A cheshire grin was stretched across their face, and something about it struck you as odd. You weren’t entirely sure why, and you regarded them contemplatively for it.

As you were watching them, those baffling collapsible eye sockets opened, and you could see glowing pupils burning in their depths. More to the point, you could see that their eyes were now fixed directly on you. And you were still staring. Blatantly. 

They canted their head to look at you and you saw their grin shift into something more mischievous. They gave a two fingered wave and shut their left eye in a long wink, “hey there.” you heard their voice drift over the din to you from across the gap of the empty seat between you, and you immediately gathered that they were most likely male.

You were still frozen in embarrassment from having been caught staring in the first place, and your words had shored up in your mind forming a rebellious barricade against complete sentences. They were regarding you, clearly waiting for the response you didn't have to give. You felt your cheeks burn a little and hunched your shoulders as you looked away. Your brain finally seemed to unclog itself. "Uh...hi." 

Eloquent.

You were saved from your social ineptitudes by the door at the base of the auditorium slamming shut and the professor arriving, bag slung across their shoulder. You turned with some relief away from the probing eyes of the skeleton near you and faced forward. For a few moments, you could still see him watching you from your peripheral vision before they too slowly turned and faced towards the front of the room, perching their chin on a fist as the main lights went out and the projector came to life.

An hour later, your hand was cramping, your brain felt rattled, and your notebook was freshly christened with what you were quickly determining to be indecipherable sets of equations. This was the first class and even after a short time set aside for syllabus review and a portion of a lecture, you still felt like you were in over your head. And you were panicking about it.

You did the best you could to shove down the anxiety, and pulled a highlighter out of your backpack after some finagling at angling to get to the right pocket around your precarious perch and inadequate desk.

Other students are beginning to pack up and file out. While waiting on the chaos to die down before you attempt to try to brave the stream of humanity (and monsters, you silently amended), you took the time to streak bright lines of yellow across your notes to highlight what you thought was important. The skeleton who’d sat a few seats away from you had already stood and was shuffling his way down the row towards the exit. You glanced up as he meandered by to see that he didn’t have anything with him. No backpack. No notebook. Not even so much as a pencil.

Your brow furrowed as you watched him go, and wondered why he hadn’t come prepared. Part of your mind quietly scoffed, figuring that even monsters had some tendencies like humans. If he was going to be the kind to not put forth the effort, you’d likely find his seat empty in the coming weeks. Physics wasn’t supposed to be easy, and your professor had already jokingly called it ‘the widow maker of your degree plan’. A year long course, you could only imagine what kind of a mental state you’d be in by the end of May. You figured it best not to dwell on such things, and finished packing up, following the dregs of students that were still filing out.

You were determined not to fail. You were going to pass this class if it killed you.


	2. The Part-Timer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grillby's in this one.

The rest of the week involving your physics class was spent in much the same fashion. Baffled by mathematics and formulas, you slaved diligently over your notes every class session, wielding your pen and highlighter in highly effective symmetry. Unfortunately it didn’t seem to do much for your comprehension, but it felt like it helped anyway.

You’d never really been that great with mathematics, if you were being honest. As it was, you’d barely skimmed your way through your prerequisite Chemistry and Organic Chem courses in the prior semesters with what you’d considered a satisfactory grade. You had little issue when it came to hands on natural sciences, in fact you’d found the entire process of those courses fascinating...but something about getting down into the equations and nitty gritty mathematics of it all was too much for your brain to handle. You never were that great at abstract concepts, and you supposed that was merely reflected in your performance based around numbers and formulas.

Here you’d hoped that physics would be different...but such was not appearing to be the case.

Your skeleton classmate didn’t seem to share your sentiment on the matter of physics being stressful. Every day of the week, they were in class waiting, a seat away from where you usually sat. They  never brought anything with them either. As a matter of fact, you hadn’t seen the skeleton write down so much as a single equation. At one point, you were aghast to find him asleep on the Friday afternoon session, head cushioned by his fist as he slumped forward in his desk. Didn’t he care?

The seats had already started to empty out in the auditorium. Not noticeably, but more empty spaces had dotted the room this Friday than had been there before. You figured the fragmenting would only grow worse in time.

Your friend Rebecca had already dropped one of her mathematics courses in favor of preserving other grades. She’d proclaimed woefully that taking Genetics and Biochemistry at the same time had been a heinous mistake on her part. You’d commented to her how your classmate had seen fit to doze off in class beside you and she’d merely snickered. “Another one claimed by Professor Camden.” she’d said knowingly.

“He’s not that bad.” You had told her with a shrug. It was true that Professor Camden had a tendency to drone, but he was at least clear with his explanations...sort of.

“You’re lying through your teeth, you know that?” Her smirk had spoken volumes

“I am lying through my teeth.” You’d admitted, defeated. It wasn’t the best class in the world, but you’d take it. You needed it, thanks to your damnable degree plan.

Still, you could only focus so much time and effort on that particular class. You were juggling fifteen hours all together, not to mention the part time job you’d recently acquired last week at a bar. It had been a godsend, really. Your summer job had come crashing down around your ears thanks to an inability to work with your new class schedule, and you’d panicked, searching for a new job as quickly as you could to help foot the bills of your tuition and your apartment.

You honestly hadn’t expected to be working in a monster oriented establishment, but by that point in your desperate job hunt, you really  hadn’t cared. The ad in the paper had called for an assistant bartender to help with the Friday night and weekend shifts. You’d leapt for it immediately.

The sign for the establishment had left you a bit...nonplussed, if only for the fact that you weren’t entirely sure how to pronounce the name of the place. Graceful neon calligraphy declared it to be ‘Grillby2’ ...or maybe it was ‘Grillbys’ and the ‘s’ was backwards. Or maybe it was just a terribly formed ‘z’? You had loitered for a few minutes, puzzling before you had gone in, finding yourself immediately in the company of many monsters of all shapes and sizes, and a smaller smattering of humans.

You’d picked your way to the back of the house, coming to a pause at the bar. Grillby’s (as you’d decided you were going to think of it until someone corrected you otherwise) had a dim, somewhat hazy atmosphere, though something about the smell of the food and the gentle music from the jukebox gave it a homier atmosphere than you’d expected from a dive bar. A dog  monster and what looked like a bipedal horse were playing a game of pool nearby, the one who wasn’t up to shoot gave you a side-eye briefly before turning back to their game.

Behind the bar was likely the hottest creature you’d ever seen.

Because he was literally on fire.

You were stunned into perpetuated silence as you stood there, hands jammed deeply in your pockets. A pair of glasses appeared to be perched on their non-existent nose, giving you some idea of where their eyes were probably supposed to be. You didn’t even want to ask how they were holding a rag without it burning and polishing a glass. After a few more long moments of polishing the glass to a shine, it was placed back down behind the bar, and the fire-creature turned their attention unmistakably to you.

“ _Can I help you?_ ” you jumped at the mental voice, realizing you’d been staring again. You’d heard that monsters had magical potential, and you’d even seen videos of it online or on Vines from the more intrepid monsters who’d taken to showing off for some viral fame, but this was your first encounter with any. Especially that of the telepathic variety, though you supposed it made sense given that this monster didn’t appear to have a mouth.

You introduced yourself, relieved when you didn’t stumble over your name. “I’m here to inquire about the ad you put out in the paper, looking for a weekend bartender?”

The impeccably dressed creature bridged their fingers in front of their chest, straightening their back. “ _Ah, yes. It is good to meet you then. I am Grillby, the owner of Grillby’s 2_ ” Aha, so it _had_ been a 2 on the sign. “ _Or...just Grillby’s as the case may be_.” he flicked a burning hand dismissively and seemed to assess you for a moment. Or at least, that was the sense you got from him. “ _Are you experienced? I do hope that you are over the legal drinking age as well, as that is necessary for the job and for the proper licensure._ ”

You’d produced a resume at that point and a copy of your license, handing it to him, and marveling at the fact that his touch didn’t immediately cause the page to immolate. You were twenty-two, which you informed him of, and you’d had previous work in a nice bar for six or seven months last year. He seemed satisfied by your answer. He’d led you to a small booth, leaving the bar and it’s patrons to another monster. Making his way to one of the booths, he sat down and gave you what was likely one of the most surreal interviews you’d ever had.

Monster establishments, and the bars as well, Grillby had told you, were a bit different from human ones, though they catered to both species at Grillby’s. He wouldn’t fault you by any means for a lack of experience in a monster-based establishment, though if you were to take the job, you were going to need to learn a few new things to keep up. You were more than willing to do that. From there, you’d done quick demonstrations of your knowledge of drink mixing, serving, money handling, and a few other things. Grillby observed it all with such unruffled dignity and poise that you figured he’d be more suited to something like a businessman or a lawyer than a bartender. You’d kept those thoughts to yourself however, not wanting to insult your potential employer on his career of choice.

“ _You are certainly one of the most capable applicants I’ve had apply_.” Grillby had told you when you’d returned to the booth with him. “ _And you are at least more at ease in present company, though you did show signs of tension before_.” Grillby you’d come to learn, missed nothing.

“I’m just not used to it. I don’t hate monsters though” You’d gave a mild shrug, doing your best to sit as comfortably and confidently as you could. The fact that you were uneasy wasn’t a good thing to show in an interview.

“ _No, I should think I agree with your self-assessment. But it would be best to gain a greater understanding and comfort with both types of customers in your time of employment here..._ ” He’d gone quiet for a few moments after that, he’d turned his attention from you and gone back to reviewing notes he’d taken in a small pad of paper, pen tapping gently against his fiery palm. “ _Perhaps now we should discuss scheduling and when would be the best time for you to begin your first shift._ ” He’d hired you, and you’d been extremely grateful.

Your new job had picked up at the end of your first week of school. A few hours before Grillby’s had opened that evening, you’d been given a basic rundown of your duties again and had been guided through a few of the monster-suitable items on the menu that you hadn’t been familiar with. You weren’t really dealing with food, Grillby had told you, just drinks, so you could leave most of that to your coworkers who were acting as servers around the darker booths. Despite the fact that you felt like a greenhorn all over again at having to learn so many new things, you had to admit that it wasn’t nearly as bad as when you’d first started bar-tending. At least you still recalled your old skills, even after a brief intermission. Like riding a bike, it was just something that returned to you naturally.

By the time that Grillby’s had opened, you were feeling more than comfortable at your new post, and had already befriended one of the servers. Her name was Fia, and like Grillby, she was literally made of fire, which had led you to making a terrible pun about her being the hottest thing you’d ever seen when you’d first introduced herself. Unlike Grillby however, she wasn’t made of orange and red flames, but of bright green ones. At your joke however, she’d blushed (much to your surprise as you didn’t know fire _could_ blush) a streak of flames in a rather becoming shade of blue. You’d talked for a while before your shift, and found out that she was actually Grillby’s niece. Like you, she was also in college, attending the local university, though she didn’t live in town, and instead commuted the twenty minutes to campus from the monster settlement near Mt. Ebott.

You’d been curious to know more, but about that time, customers had started to trickle in, and you’d both been forced to part ways for the time being. You were still a bit nervous around the new customers, but Grillby and Fia had at least helped to put your fears aside that monsters were anything approaching dangerous. You supposed your initial reaction, while judgmental, was appropriate given what humanity shown of them.

Though there was no remaining record of the war between monsters and humans that had been recorded by human hands, old legends and mythology were the closest remnants that could be had of when monsters and humans shared the earth...albeit terribly if some of the stories were to be considered close to accurate.

They always painted the monsters as the bad guys...evil and full of malcontent. There were stories where they’d eaten children, tricked travelers, stolen souls, rampaged through cities...You’d pondered this with an intense frown as you’d polished up some glasses in a lull, your attention fragmented. From what you’d learned from watching the news and the summits between the monsters of Mt. Ebott and the Underground, their ambassador Frisk, and their interactions and explanation of their existence to the rest of the world, humans had been the ones with all the power. So how much of the old monster stories were even true?

But still...people were so afraid of them and what they could do. You put the glasses down and moved to shift a bottle of some kind of strange monster brew back to the back shelf from where you’d left it earlier. It was Thursday night, and quiet, so you at least had some time with your thoughts.

“you’re looking kinda glassy eyed there, kid.” you startled at the sudden voice to your right,  nearly fumbling the bottle in your hand, but managing to secure it only by dropping your polishing towel to the floor.

You registered the pun, and it’s procurer with some measurement of surprise. The skeleton from your physics class was perched to your left at the end of the bar, looking rather amused by your reaction. _Shit_. You hadn’t even heard him come in...or sit down. How long had he even been there?

“whoops. careful you don’t drop any of that or Grillby may be likely tequila ya.”

You snorted and fought a grin before placing the bottle delicately back on the shelf and turning to give him a look. You were honestly caught between admiration at such a unique alcohol pun, and groaning in disbelief. Huh, so this is what your friends had felt like when you’d gone on punning sprees against them.

“Don’t worry,” you crossed your arms and looked at him, “Nothing should get broken so long as I’m calling the shots.” You smirked, and saw his apparently permanent grin widen. You wouldn’t have thought it possible had you not just seen it, but apparently the skeleton was capable of more extreme grins than a regular skull could generate.

“oh, you and i are gonna get along just fine. glad to see that Grillby’s finally hired someone with a top notch sense of humor.” the skeleton leaned his arms against the bar.

“I do what I can.” You replied, pleased at the compliment. Remembering yourself, and your new job, you jerked out of your more relaxed, reclining pose. “Sorry, was there something I could get for you?”

He gave a casual wave of his hand. “just the usual.” he studied your hesitation silently for a moment, his grin a touch more neutral, and he closed his left eye in a long wink again. “but i’m guessing you don’t know what that is.”

You grimaced, and he laughed. “don’t worry about it, kid. Grillby’s got me covered.” he pointed over your shoulder, and you followed his finger to see that Grillby was in fact, in the back, giving a mild wave to the monster before you. You turned back to see him return the gesture before turning his attention back to you. “and if you’re wonderin’, nah I’m not drinking tonight. alcohol on a school night is whiskey business y’know.”

“That was terrible.” you told him, but you felt your lips quirking into a smile, even as you shook your head. “So...water then?”

His expression shifted, as if he knew some private joke you didn’t. “nah, but if you’ve got a bottle of ketchup, i’ll take that.”

Puzzled, but willing to oblige any of Grillby’s customers, you reached behind the bar top and pulled out one of the glass bottles of ketchup you kept stored there for the waiters and placed it next to the skeleton. You were about to ask if he’d need anything else for his food when he suddenly uncapped it, and swigged it back.

_Holy shit._

You were saved from your gaping by Grillby calling you over to retrieve the order he’d been working on. You snagged it with thanks to the fire monster and brought it back to the bar. A simple burger basket appeared to be the skeleton’s ‘usual’, and you made a mental note regarding the matter as you set it before him.

He was regarding you with that same amused grin again, his hands folded in front of him and the ketchup bottle now resting innocently beside his elbow. “so kid,” he began as you reached to pick up the towel you’d dropped earlier to return to your small stack of glasses. “what’s your name? figure i oughta know if we’re sittin’ in the same class and you’re workin’ the bar at one of my old haunts.” he’d armed himself with the ketchup bottle again, but now he was smothering his burger in the stuff instead of...drinking it.

You introduced yourself, and he in turn, did the same. “name’s Sans. Sans the skeleton.” he offered his hand to shake, and you regarded it for a moment, still caught off the guard by the fact that it was in fact, nothing but bones. It was a different shape than you might have expected for a skeleton hand, with a palm made of a solid plate of bones rather than being composed of a cluster of finger bones like your own was under your flesh.

“hey, don’t you know how to greet a new pal? c’mon and shake my hand” he was wearing that wide grin again, and you weren’t sure if you found it unsettling or disarming. You took his hand to shake.

A long, drawn out, and rather rude noise suddenly filled the space between you.

You could feel yourself turning red with mortification, even as Sans’ shoulders shook with suppressed laughter. You swear you could hear his bones rattling quietly from the effort of it. “ah…” he exhaled, seeming to get a hold of himself, but not before he wiped at one of his eye sockets. “the old whoopie cushion trick. never gets old.” he tucked his hand and the offending whoopie cushion into his pocket, and hopped off the stool. “was nice meetin’ ya, kid.” he called over his shoulder as he made his way to the door. “tell Grillby to put it on my tab, will ya?”

“O...okay.” you say, mostly to yourself though, as Sans has already pushed his way out the door and disappeared into the night. Feeling a bit flustered still after such a strange encounter, you went back to pick up his plate and the bottle of ketchup, only to find that the plate was empty and the ketchup bottle was missing. You hadn’t even seen him eat. Plus he was a skeleton. Where the hell would he put it? Surreptitiously, you leaned over the bar to look down at the floor, finding it clean. No burger.

At this rate you were going to hurt yourself between trying to understand monsters, their magic, and your physics class. You decided with a shake of your head, that it was probably just not best to think about it, and move on. Taking the empty plate in hand, you went back to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we know his name. Such progress. Very introductions. Wow.
> 
> I just want to say thank you for such a warm response to the first chapter! I just finished up the third chapter in full, so I decided to go ahead and put up the second. I'm gonna try to keep up a schedule like that, where I finish up a chapter to act as a buffer while I edit the one before it. Gives me good time to review what I've written and also get some time to get writing done without cheating and skipping ahead. The chapters of this story as forewarned may range towards longer, if only because I like to write out things as they happen. I've never been good about skipping around. It always makes me feel like my writing's choppy. If things start to get to be too much though, let me know, and I'll start trying to be more concise!


	3. Under the Weather

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rain brings people together in interesting ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finals are about to get underway for me. So what better way to kick off that time of studying by not studying at all and writing a chapter instead?!
> 
> ALSO
> 
> I want to say holy crap thank you all for all the hits and the positive feedback on my story so far. It's super encouraging and you're spoiling me. I'm probably going to keep saying this at the start of every chapter but I'm very thankful ;u;

Friday signaled the end of the week and your last physics class before the weekend. You’d come in early, wanting to settle in without dealing with too much of the foot traffic around class time. There were a few students scattered about the auditorium who appeared to have had the same idea as you. Most were chatting with friends or classmates. The back rows were empty, and you hadn’t had any plans to socialize anyway as you bent over your desk and worked on a worksheet that Professor Camden had posted online for supplemental help if anyone needed it. Which you did...desperately.

Your desk was easily overtaken by a few pages of notes and the worksheet, and you balanced your binder which cradled your calculator on one leg while you chewed your pencil. You probably would have had a better time of it if you worked on these worksheets in the library where you had more room, but you really wanted the refresher before the lecture today.

“havin’ trouble with your math, pal?” You jerked, fumbling your calculator and binder off your leg at Sans’ voice to your left. He’d forgone his seat one desk away apparently in favor of the one directly next to yours. He leaned forward and plucked the dropped items off the floor and handed them back to you before he settled back into his seat. “i can always _sum_ it up for you.”

You accepted your stuff back and shoved it into your backpack. Partway through zipping up your bag, the lightbulb went off. “Oh my god that was terrible.” you snorted, placing your hand over your face. You could hear him laughing beside you and you peeked up at him. “You know, math puns are a _sine_ of some serious problems.”

“oh i’m sure it’s one of many things wrong with me.” he shrugged, unperturbed. “but seriously, you havin’ trouble?” He leaned over a bit to see your worksheet and you sat back, letting him look at your paper and half finished equations. Most of it felt (and probably looked) like indecipherable chicken scratch to you.

“Maybe just a bit…” you admitted.”Do you understand anything he’s talking about?” you looked between your work and Sans hopefully.

“of course. it’s simple stuff.” Sans decided to finally forgo leaning and snagged your paper off your desk.

“Maybe to some people, mister modest.” You toyed with your pencil. “It’s just a bunch of sticks and lines to me so far.”

Sans was smirking but his eyes roved your math. “physics is fine. you just gotta know what you’re doing.” He snagged your pencil from your grasp, startling you, and scratched some notes onto your paper.

“Oh, is that all?” you drawled. You were glad to see that the skeleton understood what he was doing at least, but you still found it frustrating that he took to math so well. You’d struggled with mathematics your whole academic career, and hated that this one singular subject seemed intent on making you look and feel stupid.

“you’re not doing too badly.” he offered you the worksheet back. “for an amateur at least.” there was the cocky smirk and wink he’d given you on the first day again.”left ya a few hints to push you in the right direction.”

You took back the paper and pencil and inspected the sheet. His script was loose and wide, but sat plainly beside your math, pointing out your mistakes. He’d even corrected a few of your significant figures on a previous problem. “Thanks.” You told him, honestly meaning it.

“no problem.” he shrugged, sinking deeper into his jacket as he reclined in his seat. His easy posture almost made the wood and plastic construct look comfortable.

“Looks like I got lucky sitting next to a professional on the matter.” More students were in the auditorium now, and the professor was due to arrive any minute. You started to pack up your worksheets and notes in favor of a fresh page for today’s lecture.

“damn right, i’m a professional.” he sounded pleased with himself, and his grin had widened.

"So modest." you teased him again, and he laughed.

The lecture started not long after that, and you committed your attention to it. Partway through, you became aware of the fact that Sans had dozed off next to you, the occasional soft snore helping to punctuate one of Professor Camden’s points. You left him be for the duration of the lecture, not sure if you should really bother waking up someone who wasn’t going to take notes anyway.

When class ended and people started to shuffle out, you looked over to see him still out cold. You reached out and shook his shoulder. “Hey, lazybones, you should probably wake up.”

He stirred, his sockets opening (one day you’d stop questioning how that was possible) and the lights coming back on. “mm…? s’that?” He looked at you a moment and then around at the emptying room. “oh.”

“Yeah,” you laughed, shouldering your bag. “C’mon, class is over. You should move before someone tries to sit on you because you’re in their spot for the next class.”

You made your way out to the aisle, Sans following behind you. Exiting the building, you frowned up at the sky, noting that grey clouds were moving in, doubtless the storm you’d heard about on the weather report this morning.

You looked over and saw Sans rubbing at his skull. He was doing his best to confuse you by doing the physiologically impossible again; this time by sweating from his skull. When you really took a moment to look at him, you also noticed that the dark circles under his eyes looked more pronounced, and he seemed pretty out of it. “You gonna be okay there, buddy? You look like you could use a coffee...or some ketchup.”

He blinked, seeming to come back to himself a bit as he looked back at you.  Sans face may have been stuck in a grin, but there were subtle nuances to his expressions and his smiles that you were starting to pick up on. Right now, he was looking more wan than anything else, “nah, i’ll be fine. just gotta shake off the nap is all.” he stuffed his hands in the pocket of his jacket and turned to make his way into the crowd of dispersing students. “i’ll see ya next class, buddy. don’t get rained on.”

“Seeya…” you called after him, frowning. You were worried about him, but you figured that you barely knew Sans as it was. He was just a classmate, and a customer at the bar you worked at. You didn’t have a right to pry. Shaking off the unease for the monster, you went to go grab a snack before your next class, and made a mental note to swing by your car to grab your umbrella. You planned to follow Sans advice and avoid getting rained on.

\---

As expected, the storm started up after you next class. Thanks to your foresight to grab the umbrella from your car, you were able to get from your class to the library without getting soaked in the early September downpour. With the weather gradually cooling in the late afternoon, you wanted to avoid getting soaked to the skin and the sicknesses that might come with that.

As you entered the foyer of the library, you saw the familiar form of Fia idling uncertainly by the doorway. She was staring out the wide windows, the flames of her body flickering in what you thought might have been distress.

“Hey, Fia.” You greeted, coming up beside her.

She jerked, coming back to attention. “ _Oh, hello!_ ” She turned away from the windows to look at you. “ _It’s good to see you. I’d wondered if I’d ever catch you around campus._ ” Like Grillby, her voice rang brightly in your head.

“I’d wondered the same.” You informed her. “Are you all done with classes for the day?”

“ _Oh yes._ ” she nodded. “ _I was just trying to get a paper printed for my Civics class before I went to work but...I didn’t realize it was going to rain like this._ ” her shoulders sagged and looked despondently back out the windows. “ _I hope Uncle Grillby doesn’t get mad if I’m late._ ” she murmured, shoulders hunching up.

You looked between the rain and the fire monster and frowned. “Oh, no way,” Understanding dawned, “Can the rain hurt you?!” you blanched at the realization.

She cast her gaze down to her feet, hands twisting the hem of her shirt as a tinge of blue blossomed in the flames of her cheeks. “ _Well...um...yes. We fire monsters don’t really...take well to water. Or most liquids non-flammable liquids._ ” She explained.

“Oh god, that’s terrible! Every time it rains it must be like armageddon to you and your Uncle.” You could understand her unease now. It’d be like if it rained fire from the sky in comparison.

Fia tittered, and you were glad she could at least laugh at the situation. “ _Well...that's one way of putting it. It's a little less world ending, and only a little dangerous to some of us monsters._ ” she shrugged.

“Well, I’ll tell you what.” You flipped your grip on your umbrella, offering her the handle. “I’m going to be here for a while. I’ve got a couple of classes I want to do some work in, and I’ve got nowhere to be. Plus, my skin’s waterproof.” you smiled gently at her.

She looked between you and the proffered umbrella, a bit uncertain. “ _I’m not...are you sure?_ ” she asked, timidly reaching for it.

“Absolutely.” You said firmly. “You need it more than I do, right now, since I figure it'll have stopped raining by the time I get out. And besides, you can always return it to me at work.” She took it, and smiled, or at least you got the sense she did. Like Grillby, she didn’t have a visible mouth, though she did have eyes, and they crinkled a bit at the edges.

“ _Oh thank you!_ ” She surprised you when she threw her arms around you. A hug from a fire monster was heartwarming for certain, and not entirely unwelcome. You patted her shoulder gently in return.

“No problem, Fia. It’s big enough right? You’ll be okay?” You pulled back, looking uncertainly at the umbrella. It was trusty enough, for a human’s needs anyway. You just weren’t sure if it would suffice for her. The last thing you wanted was for her to be in danger.

“ _Oh it’s perfect. It’ll be absolutely fine._ ” She reassured you.

Somewhat pacified, you nodded and let go of her. "Be safe, okay? Text me when you make it to work!”

“ _I will!_ ” she beamed, and darted out the door. Pausing under the awning, she opened the umbrella, and with a last wave to you, she trotted off. You watched her go, hoping she’d be alright and that she’d make it to work on time. When she finally disappeared from your line of sight, you turned and made your way into the depths of the library, seeking out a study room that you could commandeer for the next few hours.

You managed to find a room upstairs on the second floor of the library. Study rooms at the campus you’d come to find were less ‘rooms’ and more along the lines of a student’s own personal broom closet. With a single chair and a desk built into the wall, it came with necessary amenities, including an electric outlet for a laptop,and a light above on the shelf. You flicked it on and started to dig out your homework, textbooks, and calculator. A few minutes later, your charger occupied the wall plug and your phone was hooked up as you started up some background music for ambience.

Thirty minutes into your study session, your phone buzzed, alerting you to a text message. It was from Fia, letting you know she’d made it to work safe and sound. It was relieving to know, and you shot her back a response before you set your phone aside, lest it become a temptation to your easily preoccupied mind.

Luckily it was the only message you received over the course of the next few hours as you worked diligently through your homework assignments and your reading. Lecture notes were always well and good, but you knew you’d have to supplement them or you’d never quite know everything you needed for your course. Unfortunately you also knew just how much time things like this tended to eat up. You hoped you’d continue to have time for them, especially given how many hours you were balancing with your job.

Your physics assignments were your last ones for the night, and when you closed your book it was an admission of defeat. You still had several concepts that you didn’t understand and you knew you’d have to email Professor Camden later for an explanation. You checked your phone for the time after you’d packed everything away. 8:47 pm.

“Oh.” you blinked at the numbers. Four hours in the library. Oops.

Night had descended while you’d been busy. Your prediction of the rain stopping had also fallen through. If you’d thought it was pouring earlier it was absolutely a monsoon at this point. You stood at the door of the library staring in shock at the flooded sidewalk outside. A part of you wondered if you waited long enough if you’d see an ark drift by. You wouldn’t put it past some of the fraternities to try a stunt like that.

You rocked back on your heels and contemplated your options. Your car was on the other side of campus, and Fia had your umbrella. You did have your jacket, but you’d probably need to use that to preserve your backpack and all your paper-based items within it.

The current score had the storm up by several points.

“Ah...man.” You ran a hand down your face. Looked like you’d be running for it.

This was in fact, a terrible idea.

By the time you were a few buildings away from the library, you were pretty sure you were soaked through. Your backpack was at least holding up with your jacket thrown over it, but your socks, shoes, and pant legs were done for. You’d holed up briefly under an awning and were brushing lank strands of hair from your face. With the combination of the night having set in and the pouring rain, it was pretty vacant out, so at least you didn’t have to worry about looking like a drowned rat in front of too many folks.

You put your backpack down on a dry patch of sidewalk and took a moment to attempt wringing out your jacket. In the midst of the process, a ATV-esque vehicle with a covered cab rolled by, headlights cutting through the rain. Campus patrol. You watched it go by for a moment before you returned to your task. It didn’t take long for it to recapture your attention. A screech of tires and the sudden whipping of the headlights back in your direction had you fumbling to get out of the way as the vehicle roared up to where you had been standing only moments ago.

“HUMAN!” A sudden shout erupted from the cab of the vehicle and the door was kicked open. “DO YOU REQUIRE ASSISTANCE?” Out of the patrol vehicle came a lanky skeleton. Dressed in a red crop top and shorts, he had a black jacket with the campus insignia embroidered into it thrown over his odd choice of clothes. Red mittens that countered the black jacket only seemed to accent his grand gestures, and you thought you saw an orange scarf poking up from the collar of his hood.

“Um…” you stalled, trying to kick your brain back into gear for an answer. Judging on that parking job, you weren’t sure if this monster was someone you wanted assistance from. “I think I’m okay.”

“NONSENSE!” He wasn’t buying it. “YOU’RE SOAKED TO THE SKIN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WOULD BE A TERRIBLE PERSON INDEED IF I WERE TO ALLOW YOU TO CONTINUE IN SUCH A FASHION.” He scurried over, picking up your bag and plucking your jacket from your hands before you could protest. “COME, I WILL TAKE YOU WHERE YOU NEED TO GO!” He ushered you towards the ATV and you got the feeling you didn’t really have a choice at this point. Still, you were glad for his help, even if you were worried about his driving skills.

The cab of the patrol vehicle was warmer than you’d thought, and even with you, your bag, and a lanky skeleton there was still room to stretch out. You looked around curiously at the small space. The only things that were more or less out of place in the vehicle aside from yourself was a walkie talkie taped to the dashboard with duct tape, and a tupperware container of spaghetti.

“SO HUMAN, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?” You winced, realizing that the monster, Papyrus, if you had heard him correctly, hadn’t been shouting to be heard over the rain. This appeared to be his regular volume.

“Lot 38.” You told him.

“AH YES. LOT 38...WHICH IS ON CAMPUS. WHERE CARS PARK.” You weren’t sure if it was rain beaded on his skull or if he had started to sweat. “HUMAN, WHERE IS LOT 38?” He finally asked after a moment.

“Oh. Well, I can direct you. It’s just past the Engineering building and across the road.” You pointed to the direction you’d been heading.

“AH EXCELLENT!” Papyrus hit the gas, sending the ATV off in the direction you’d pointed. “SO HUMAN WHY DIDN’T YOU HAVE AN UMBRELLA? DID YOU NOT KNOW IT WOULD RAIN?”

“I had one, but I lent it to my friend. She’s a fire monster, so she needed it more than I did.”

“OH YOU KNOW A FIRE MONSTER?” Papyrus looked to you eagerly, and the vehicle swerved dangerously.

You surreptitiously clutched the door handle, bracing yourself as best you could in the small space against the erratic movements. “Uh...yeah, her name is Fia. She and I work together.”

“OH! I KNOW FIA!” Papyrus nodded approvingly. “SHE IS A GOOD SPARK. IT IS GOOD YOU ARE FRIENDS WITH HER.” He straightened and looked at you, pointing a glove clad finger. “HUMAN, I THINK WE SHOULD BE FRIENDS AS WELL!”

“Well, sure.” You agreed, startled, but touched regardless that someone would want to be friends with you so readily. “You said your name was Papyrus, right?” You introduced yourself in turn.

“GLAD TO MEET YOU!” Papyrus grabbed your hand and shook it, causing the vehicle to shift violently as you headed down a hill. You barely contained a yelp.

When the vehicle straightened out, you relaxed your grip on the door handle minutely. You pointed him in the direction of the lot your car was parked in as you cleared the campus and stopped at an intersection, waiting for the light to change. Curious as you looked at the skeleton beside you, you couldn’t help but ask.

“Hey, Papyrus? Do you happen to have a brother or...cousin here at the university? You're not the only skeleton I've seen around...” Given that monsters were so unique in appearance, it had struck you odd to see a second skeleton wandering around.

“OH YES, MY BROTHER SANS TAKES SOME CLASSES HERE. THOUGH I’M NOT SURE WHAT HE’S STUDYING EXACTLY...” His brows furrowed for a moment in thought. His expression then cleared and he looked to you eagerly, completely missing the crosswalk telling him to go. You didn’t really mind. “DO YOU KNOW MY BROTHER?”

“Yeah. He’s in my Physics class.” You informed him. “He keeps falling asleep in lectures though…”

“MY BROTHER IS VERY LAZY.” Papyrus nodded. “BUT HE ENJOYS HIS CLASSES, I THINK. I TOO FIND THIS PLACE FUN, ESPECIALLY SINCE I GET TO MEET SO MANY NICE HUMANS.” He beamed at you and you smiled softly at the skeleton’s praise. You just hoped he continued to meet nice humans, especially given that most reactions weren't always positive.

“Yeah, college is sure interesting with so many nice monsters around, too.” You leaned back in your seat. This time when the crosswalk changed, Papyrus caught it and cross the road.

The parking lot was mostly empty at this time of night, so pointing out your car to Papyrus wasn’t hard. The skeleton pulled to a stop beside it, but called out before you could leave. “HUMAN, WAIT A MOMENT. MAY I SEE YOUR PHONE? I WISH TO ‘SWAP DIGITS’ ” He made air quotes with his gloved hands, making you laugh as you handed your phone over to him. After a minute, he gave it back, and you saw he’d put his number into your phone under ‘THE GREAT PAPYRUS!!!’.

“IF YOU EVER NEED ANYTHING, LET ME KNOW. WE ARE FRIENDS NOW, AFTER ALL.” You smiled at Papyrus, and returned the favor, putting your own number into his phone.

He beamed as he looked down at the new contact on his phone screen. “ONE MORE THING. HERE!” He handed you the tupperware container of spaghetti. “I THOUGHT SANS DIDN’T EVER EAT ENOUGH, BUT IT TURNS OUT THAT’S JUST HOW STUDENTS ARE. SO MAKE SURE TO EAT, ALRIGHT? YOU WILL NEED YOUR STRENGTH.”

God help you this skeleton was likely the purest soul you'd ever met. And you were absolutely touched by his concern. “Thank you, Papyrus.” You told him, meaning it. “I’ll have it for dinner tonight.”

“NYEH HEH HEH, EXCELLENT!” He waved enthusiastically as you got out and hustled to your car. “FAREWELL, HUMAN!” With a squeal of tires, he was off again out of the parking lot.

You watched him go from the relative warmth of your car. The spaghetti container and your backpack were placed in your passenger seat and you made your way out of the lot, contemplating today’s events. You seemed to be making more and more monster friends, and you were rather pleased at the notion. Your world was expanding, bit by bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we've met Papyrus. I was really trying to figure out how best to introduce him into the story, and I thought that since he enjoyed keeping an eye out for humans in the Underground so much, that keeping an eye on them and monsters wouldn't be too big of a step past his usual. He is a lot of fun to write. I just gotta get more comfortable with conversations as a whole. 
> 
> And maybe stop making chapters so long oh lord.


	4. Bridging the Gap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus' friendliness helps you expand your horizons further, and you get to know him and his brother a little better for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. Sorry for the long absence of chapters. School is officially done, so I'm hoping to have more time to write now with only work competing for my attention!

Saturday dawned quietly in your apartment. You woke up around ten to your phone buzzing loudly on your nightstand, signaling a text message. You’d blearily squinted at the screen.

 

_GOOD MORNING HUMAN, DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS FOR THE DAY? :-)_

 

You blinked at the capital letters, noting that they were from Papyrus even as you struggled to kick your brain into a capacity to understand them. You hadn’t expected to hear from him so soon. Or at all really. You’d thought the skeleton more of a ‘save the distressed’ type then a ‘let’s hang out’ type. Based on his open and friendly mannerisms, you figure you probably should have known better. Rubbing grit from your eyes, you unearthed you other arm from your blankets to reply.

 

_Hey, Papyrus. No plans for today, aside from work later this evening. What’s up?_

_EXCELLENT. I AM MAKING LUNCH, AND SANS SAID I COULD INVITE FRIENDS OVER. YOU ARE MY FRIEND AND ARE CERTAINLY INVITED. :-D_

Well. That was unexpected. You’d already been graced by Papyrus’ cooking once, if the tupperware of spaghetti you’d been given was any indicator. It hadn’t been...bad...though you’d been a bit startled to find bits of what you’d suspected was purple glitter in the spaghetti sauce. You’d wondered if it was just a monster thing. All in all, it wasn’t the worst thing you’d ever tasted, and you were never one to turn down free food. Even if it was a bit odd...

The same rule applied in this instance too.

Still, a part of you wondered if it was appropriate to go to the house of monsters you were barely acquainted with. Sans you were more familiar with, but you weren’t sure you’d call him a friend. As for Papyrus...well you’d only spent around twenty minutes in each other’s company, but it was clear he held you in high esteem even after such a short encounter.

You warred with yourself a little longer before you finally gave in and started a reply.

 

_Sure, Papyrus. I’d love to come over for lunch. Just let me know when and where._

 

Money was tight, you told yourself. You were in no position to pass up free meals. No matter how questionable.

His next text contained his address, and let you know that they’d be having a somewhat late lunch around 1 o’clock. You were content with that, as it’d give you plenty of time to get ready and figure out just where it was Papyrus and Sans lived. Or maybe it’d give you long enough to talk yourself out of it. You weren’t entirely sure.

You ultimately decided that you would be going. The next few hours were spent in equal parts watching videos on your phone and getting ready, with a small lapse of phone time for your shower. Thanks to your session in the library yesterday, you’d gotten the majority of your homework done or the weekend, so you wouldn’t have to worry about that on top of work.

You kept it simple for your visit to the brother’s, taming down your hair and donning a t-shirt over a worn pair of jeans. You’d have to change for work tonight, but at the very least, you’d be comfortable for most of the day. You locked up and headed down to your car, flipping through the image of the city map on your phone screen as you double checked your directions.

The drive took you a bit longer than you would have liked, and you had a singular incident in which you took the wrong road and had to idle on a side street while you reoriented yourself. By the time you pulled up to the brother’s house, you were only a tiny bit frazzled, but relieved all the same. The clock on your dashboard read 1:03, and though you were a little late, you took a minute to study the house.

It was a small two story, if the windows you could see from the outside were any indication. The front of the house was a tired off-white shade, and it looked like it’d seen years of weathering, though the lawn was well maintained. One old oak tree shaded the side of the house. You felt a small pang of longing at the sight of the place. Your apartment was nice, but you hoped to have something like this someday. A small house with a yard and a fence, and trees to dapple it with shade and acorns.

You shook off your wistfulness and turned off your car before getting out and heading up the drive to the door. You reached up to knock when it suddenly opened and you were lifted off the ground with a yelp, your body clamped tightly against a very lanky and very boney torso.

“HUMAN! IT IS GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN. I WAS WORRIED YOU WOULDN’T COME.”

You wiggled uselessly against Papyrus’ embrace. He was surprisingly strong for someone without muscles. You managed to angle your head so you could breathe, not wanting to be smothered on his shirt. “H-hey Papyrus.” You patted what you could reach with your pinned arms, which happened to be his hip. “Can you...put me down. Hard to breathe. Lungs and all. Crushing.”

“OH! MY APOLOGIES!” He dropped you near immediately, and you staggered a moment, before you regained your footing.

“c’mon Papyrus, you know better than to _smother_ people with affection.” You looked past Papyrus to see Sans standing behind his brother.

“WELL, I WAS SO EXCITED TO SEE THEM THAT I-....WAS THAT A PUN?” Papyrus appeared to also have the baffling ability to morph his skull into a variety of expressions. He was currently glaring down at Sans in disbelief. The shorter skeleton only grinned, unperturbed by his brothers clear disdain. You snickered softly at the taller skeleton’s reaction. Papyrus’ head dropped back and he stomped a foot. “UGH!” he looked to you. “PLEASE HUMAN, DON’T ENCOURAGE HIM.” He ushered you inside, and shut the door behind you.

You looked around as you entered the home. You had come into a living room, and could see the kitchen just past, with a table and some chairs for a dining room. The living room was comprised of an arm chair, a long couch, and a short coffee table that faced an entertainment center. The television was on, but muted, the movie playing being ignored for now.

“MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME. I AM STILL WORKING ON MY CULINARY MASTERPIECE.” Papyrus told you, rubbing his hands together eagerly. He wasn’t wearing the red gloves you’d seen the other night, but thick oven mitts that had large white ‘P’s stitched into them.. “UNDYNE WILL BE SO IMPRESSED!” He placed his hands on his hips and struck a proud pose.

You curiously sniffed the air as something started to smell out of place. “Uh...Papyrus...I think your culinary masterpiece might be...burning.” You winced, and panic crossed the skeleton’s face.

“AHH!!” He shrieked, and darted for the kitchen.

“nice to see him really _spaghetting_ into his cooking.” Sans remarked from the couch. You heard Papyrus shriek in outrage at the pun and Sans snickered. He’d apparently relocated while you had been talking to Papyrus. He looked over at you and patted the couch. “come have a seat kid. it’ll be a while still.”

Still feeling a bit out of place, but glad for direction, you went and sat on the couch beside Sans. “So I take it that his culinary masterpiece is more spaghetti?” You looked back towards the kitchen.

“yeah, it’s Papyrus’ specialty.” Sans had a crooked grin on his face. “best dish he cooks.” he paused, and then looked to you and lowered his voice furtively “only dish he cooks.”

That reminded you. “Oh, I forgot to grab the container he gave me yesterday.” You sat up a bit, looking stricken back towards the door. “I was going to give it back.”

“just bring it by next time.” Sans shrugged beside you, and then fell silent. You were surprised to hear that there was already an implied offer of a next time. You wondered if all monsters were this friendly, simply inviting acquaintances over for lunch, and immediately making plans again for more encounters.

Sans was still looking at you, and you glanced over at him. He didn’t seem off put by the fact that you’d noticed. When you raised a brow at him he finally spoke again. “so how’d you meet my brother?”

“Campus Patrol.” You told him, settling back into the couch. It was overstuffed, and you felt like the cushions were trying to eat you. You readjusted yourself, and saw Sans grinning at you. He’d apparently noticed the couch’s attempts as well. “He gave me a ride to my car when it was storming yesterday.”

“looks like my attempt at en- _lightning_ you about the rain didn’t help much.”

You chuckled at the joke, and Sans seemed pleased at the reaction. “Nah, your words of wisdom were very _striking_.” you reassured him. “Someone else just needed my umbrella more than me.”

“Papyrus mentioned something like that.” Sans nodded, folding his arms behind his head and closing his eyes.

“Yeah. I was kinda half drowned when he came along, but he kept my homework and textbooks from getting ruined, and he gave me something for dinner. It was really sweet of him.”

“my brother is the coolest.” Sans’ voice held clear adoration, and you looked over at him. His eyes were shut, but his grin was huge. It was one of the warmest expressions you’d seen on the skeleton to date.

“Yeah, he really-”

The front door suddenly slammed open, the door jamb splintering to pieces that showered the living room carpet. You leapt about three feet at the dynamic entrance, while Sans had remained unmoved, but highly amused on the couch.“What’s up, punks?!” A tall, female monster shouted.

The guest at the door was a tall, blue monster in a black tank top and ragged jeans. She wore a pair of scuffed, heavy boots that were now littered with the wooden remnants of their latest victim. Sharp teeth bared in a grin, the monster woman flared the fins on her face and surveyed the room with a feral yellow eye.

“Um...Un...Undyne, I think...you broke the door.” A smaller voice came from behind them. A short, yellow, reptilian monster peered around their leg.

Papyrus’ emerged from the kitchen with a saucepan in hand. “UNDYNE! WE JUST REPLACED THAT DOOR!” He groaned.

“And it’s weak shit!” She declared. “Any door that can’t take one of my kicks isn’t worth it’s hinges. Find another!” Remorse clearly wasn’t in this monster’s vocabulary.

“Oh dear…” the smaller of the pair sighed, rubbing at her forehead.

“UNDYNE, PLEASE.” Papyrus shouted.

“no need to go to pieces, bro.” Sans climbed off the couch to go stand near Papyrus, who in his horror at the state of their door didn't appear to notice his brother's pun. “we’ll just get a new one.”

Undyne grinned, victorious even as Papyrus groaned loudly. Her gaze flicked to you. “Hey, who’s the punk?”

Papyrus eagerly introduced you to both the new monsters. “THEY ARE MY NEW FRIEND. THEY GO TO THE UNIVERSITY AND THEY SAID THEY TAKE PHYSICS.” At that, the yellow lizard seemed to perk up, removing the claws she’d been anxiously gnawing from her mouth. “HUMAN,” He gestured to the two monsters. “THIS IS UNDYNE AND DR. ALPHYS. THEY WILL BE JOINING US FOR LUNCH TODAY.” Recognition flickered through your brain at the names.

“Uh...h-hi.” Alphys waved shyly.

“Good meeting you,” Undyne said, looking you up and down assessingly. You seemed to pass muster, as she unpinned you from her gaze and looked back at Papyrus, grinning deviously. “Need any help with the cooking, Pap?”

“OH, ANOTHER LESSON?” Papyrus beamed, eyes shining eagerly.

“Hell yeah!” Undyne said, tromping into the kitchen.

“Oh d-dear...I...um...hope they don’t burn down the kitchen again.”

_Again?_ You stared in the direction they’d gone, aghast.

“with those two, the kitchen has met it’s _match_ more than once.” Sans watched them go, hands stuffed in his pockets.

“I...is now really the time for jokes?” Alphys was wringing her hands together now, the idea of biting her claws apparently not appealing at the moment.

“of course. and i’m just getting _warmed_ up. i’ll keep an eye on em. make sure things don’t get too _heated_.” Sans winked a moment at the other monster and you were left to silently mouth ‘oh my god why’ even as you laughed helplessly. Turning away, he strolled into the kitchen. “hey, Pap,” you heard him call, “need a hand?”

“Well…” you looked from the kitchen back to the anxious monster. “I think it’ll be alright…” You attempted to reassure Alphys.

“Um...Probably...Maybe” the yellow monster agreed, looking nervously between you and the kitchen. “Undyne just...gets really into her hobbies. Cooking...um...cooking especially.” She seemed to finally come to a decision and came to sit on the edge of the armchair. “She’s uh...burned down our own kitchen a few times. I ended up..having to m-modify it. So it wouldn’t.” she seemed traumatized by the memory. Maybe it was time to change the subject.

“So Alphys, what do you do for a living?” You prompted, hoping to distract her.

You and Alphys spent the next few minutes talking about her work. You were startled to find that she’d actually been Asgore’s royal scientist, and she was also the creator of the robot Mettaton. At that point, you realized why they and their names had been familiar to you. You’d seen them on television all those years ago and their names had been printed and mentioned in several magazine articles. Dr. Alphys had been renowned for some of her work in biochemistry and physics, and some of your professors had even referenced her in your labs. When you mentioned as much to the monster, her scales had tinted pink as she’d blushed.

You’d started discussing your classes with her and what you’d been learning. Mostly about your struggles with physics.

“It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just I’m not good at it.” You shrugged helplessly.

“i told you kid, you’re doing fine. just gotta get used to it.” You nearly had a heart attack when San’s voice came from right next to you. The skeleton had apparently just appeared on the sofa. You had no idea how he’d managed to do that...though you had been conversing fairly intently with Alphys. Maybe you’d failed to notice?

“Where did you even _come from?!_ ” You asked him bewildered.

“that’s a talk your parents should give you, not me.” He grinned at you.

“That’s not what I meant!” You felt a flush creeping up your neck.

“HUMAN!” Papyrus’ shout caused you to wince. He was standing in the entryway of the kitchen wearing an apron that read ‘SAUCE BOSS’ on it in what you thought was sharpie. It looked slightly charred at the edges in places. You wondered if you should be concerned. “I DIDN’T KNOW YOU COULD CHANGE COLORS.” Papyrus was looking at you in fascination.

“T-That’s just because of their blood...um...rising to the surface of their skin.” Alphys told him, her gaze flicking from the skeleton to you in rapid glances.

“IT DOESN’T HURT, DOES IT?” He asked you, worry shining through his features.

“No.” You mumbled from where your face was buried in your hands out of exasperation. “I’m fine. Promise.”

“Well then, get over yourself, punk!” Undyne emerged from the kitchen with a blackened spoon in one fist. “Cuz lunch is ready. Let’s eat!”

Lunch was...informative. You got to know all the monsters a little bit better as you shared a meal. Undyne, you found out, had been the head of the Royal Guard in the Underground, and was also a master chef on top of that apparently, as she was teaching Papyrus everything she knew. But for work aboveground, she was a coach and gym teacher for a few of the schools in the area. Judging on what Alphys had said about burning down a kitchen, and having seen her kick a door off it’s hinges, you were starting to realize what an intense person she was, so you figured an athletic job suited her. But it was still a bit of a shock when you found out she was in a relationship with the incredibly shy former royal scientist.

You also realized quickly that Papyrus, even with his cooking lessons just...really didn’t understand how to cook. The spaghetti was edible...sort of. There appeared to be more helpings of glitter in this one than the tupperware container he’d given you, and the color of the day looked to be silver. The noodles weren’t all cooked either, so it was a minefield of crunchy and al dente bites. You eventually gave up and pushed your food around your plate. Alphys was doing much the same, you’d noticed. Undyne and Papyrus were happily devouring their own meals, clearly proud of their cooking prowess. Only Sans’ plate was well and truly empty, without a trace of sauce or pasta to be seen. You had stared between him and the plate in disbelief, and when he’d noticed, he’d casually winked and returned to the conversation.

These skeletons and their weird secret ability to eat things...You shook your head and returned to discussing your chemistry lectures with Alphys.

As time went on, you started to realize that Sans had been observing you subtly throughout lunch. You’d only just started to catch on after you’d finished picking at your food. It felt like he was gauging your reactions more than anything else, but it still left you feeling slightly self conscious. You wondered what he was looking to find.

When lunch was over, Alphys and Undyne left, Undyne stating that she had to go coach a practice for the high school track team, and Alphys had been her ride over. After bidding them both farewell, you helped to clean up the kitchen with Papyrus. Papyrus stacked up dirty dishes, and you helped wash them. Sans was nowhere to be found at that point, and you figured it was the skeleton living up to the lazy reputation Papyrus had informed you of when you’d first met.

“You know...Papyrus,” you told the taller skeleton as you scraped the charred remnants of one of his failed pasta dishes into the sink. “I could teach you how to make meatballs if you want. They go really well with spaghetti.” You weren’t an excellent chef yourself, but you knew a few basic dishes. Spaghetti and meatballs among them.

Starry eyed, Papyrus declared “I WOULD ENJOY THAT VERY MUCH, HUMAN. I LOOK FORWARD TO THE CHANCE TO COOK ALONGSIDE YOU.” You smiled at his enthusiasm.

“We’ll do it next time then. Oh, and I’ll also return the container you gave me the spaghetti in.”

“SPEAKING OF WHICH, WOULD YOU LIKE TO TAKE SOME MORE HOME?” Papyrus looked at the large pot of remaining spaghetti.

“Uh...that’s okay Papyrus.” You told him, managing not to cringe at the glimmering remains of the meal. “Thanks for the offer though.”

When everything was cleaned up, you informed Papyrus that you needed to go. Your shift at Grillby’s tonight started in a few hours, and you still had to go home and change into your work uniform. Papyrus bid you farewell with another bone-crushing hug before he let you go, returning to packaging his small collection of leftovers to put into the fridge and waving rapidly. You left him to it, going to show yourself out.

“hey, you leaving already?” Sans was at the foot of the stairs as you crossed the living room.

“Yeah, I’ve got a shift in a few hours at Grillby’s.” You informed him. A part of you wondered if he’d end up stopping in tonight. He’d been a fairly regular weekend customer.

“oh.” Sans nodded in understanding, crossing towards the door. After it’s maltreatment by Undyne, it was hanging listlessly on it’s hinges, creaking at every gust of wind. “hey, before you go, do you mind if i take a look at your phone? noticed somethin’ earlier.”

“Sure?” You fished it out of your pocket and handed it to him.

He turned it over in his hands and inspected it before he turned it on and swiped to the home screen. From there, you couldn’t see what he was doing as he fiddled with it, the screen tilted sharply towards his body. “aha, just as i suspected, your phone’s got a problem.”

“What?” You craned your neck to see, worried.

“yep. problem is my brother’s number’s in here but mine isn’t.” Sans tsked lightly.

You snorted, your worry dissipating near immediately. “Well, that is a problem. Can you think of a way to fix it?” You smiled wryly at him.

“i’ll do my best.” he told you seriously. After a few moments, he handed the phone back to you. “i think it’s all back in working order now. no need for thanks.” he told you, giving a humble inclination of his head, hands stuffed back in his pockets.

“You’re a lifesaver, Sans. Really. What would the world do without you?” You laughed, putting your phone back in your pocket.

“let’s hope we never have to find out.” he grinned at you. “anyway, thanks for coming to lunch. and for offering to teach Pap some more cooking” that caught you off guard. You wondered how he’d overheard that, since no one had been in the kitchen but you two.

“It was great.Thanks for having me over.” You told him, meaning it. “I look forward to next time” You smiled and waved a farewell and headed out the door to your car.

Buckling up, you slid your phone out of your pocket curiously, wanting to check your  newest contact. To your surprise, you found the screen open to your text messages with one already sent to ‘sans’.

 

_bone-jour._

  
“Oh my god, Sans.” you snorted, unable to keep from chuckling at his lame joke. Well, he had your number now, too, it looked like. You could only shake your head as you tossed your phone onto your passenger seat and drove away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to write Alphys and Undyne into this story, and a lunch seemed to be the best way to get them in. I'm hoping to bring them back in another chapter as well as maybe introduce the rest of the gang, though nothing's been entirely set into stone yet. I've got another plan currently trying to be seen through. These next couple of chapters have been a bit difficult for me to write, but I'm working on it! 
> 
> Thanks for standing by me guys. I've just been super thrilled at all the comments, kudos, and support I've gotten. I hope you all continue to enjoy the story.
> 
> If you ever need to talk to me, you can find me at my tumblr: youngbarnowl.tumblr.com or you can message me here!
> 
> I'll see you all in the next chapter! c:


	5. Shoulder the Weight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life has been well known for pulling the rug out from under your feet. The question remaining is do you lay on your back staring at the ceiling, or stand up and try again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait. This chapter and the one following it gave me some trouble. I'm actually being terrible and posting this one before I finished the one after it. Whoops.

The universe had an odd way of balancing things out. As a budding scientist, you acknowledged that entropy was in fact, a part of existence and how it worked, however, you were also supposed to acknowledge that for every action, there was an equal and opposite reaction. You’d started another year in class, you had a job, you’d made new friends, several monsters amongst them. Things had gone well. It was time, apparently, for the natural laws of the universe to reassert themselves, and counter good fortune with something else. Or at least, that was the theory that was running through your head right now.

You looked up from the hole you were burning in your kitchen table with your vacant staring to the clock on the microwave. 12:38am. You rubbed your face tiredly and sat back in your chair.

It had been a week since you’d been invited to lunch by the brothers. Work and school had gone on as normal, and things had seemed to be going fairly decent.

Until you’d come home from work to find your landlord at your apartment door.

Upon seeing you, they’d asked if you had a few minutes to speak with them. With some trepidation, you’d let them in, and you’d sat down at your kitchen table, already knowing in the pit of your stomach, the conversation that was to come.

When you’d first moved into the apartment, you’d had a roommate, one of your old friends from high school, Alex. You’d both started university together, but you hadn’t quite taken it as seriously. You’d ended up dropping your classes and working for a few years full time, building back up to going to class as you put away money to help balance the fact that you were now down several scholarships thanks to your lax performance.

You’d started again last year, but Alex had graduated that spring. They’d stayed in the apartment for only a few scant weeks afterward, having sought out a graduate program on the other side of the country. You’d been proud of them, but also scared to see them go. The empty apartment had always haunted you a bit. But what was worse was you’d never found someone to replace the empty tenant space. Working part time and going to school didn’t afford much extra cash for rent money either. You couldn’t drop to part-time in school to work full time or you’d lose the scant scholarships you’d recovered. It was a riddle of finances that you continued to struggle with.

You’d been late on the rent money too often. Your landlord hadn’t looked happy to deliver the news to you he did. You’d been a faithful renter for several years, but he couldn’t continue to  overlook your lack of timely payments.

That had been three days ago.

You rubbed your hands across your face. Three weeks, he’d told you, unable to meet your eyes, and then you’d be evicted if you weren’t already out.

You’d understandably had a small breakdown over the fact when he’d left.

It was easy not to think about it over the last few days while you’d kept busy, but when you were home and alone with your thoughts, they chased themselves in loops. You had learned in your life so far that you couldn’t sit around and wait for your emotions to fix things for you. They were uncivilized and unreasonable beasts who couldn’t do much for themselves as it was. You’d just have to pick yourself up and try to work it out for yourself.

So far, your ideas were pretty slim.

Sighing, you stood up and made your way to the fridge, and pulled out a beer. You didn’t like it most of the time, but today felt like an exception sort of day. You had started making notes of who you could ask about room options, and maybe locations around the city that could take a tenant for as little money as you made. You’d also have to ask Grillby if he could allot you some more hours.

You pinched the bridge of your nose and took a deep breath, trying to force back your anxiety through sheer willpower alone. At this rate, you’d need a chair and a whip to fight it off like a lion tamer for all the teeth and claws it had to sink into you. Life had given it far too much raw material to work with.

Your phone buzzed and you looked down at your elbow. Sans had messaged you.

It had become an odd ritual, texting the brothers. Papyrus, with his love of capitalization frequently sent you encouraging messages or emotes throughout the day. Sometimes there were blurry photos of odd things like trash cans or campus squirrels, things going on around the brothers’ house, or even the brothers themselves. You still remembered the day that Papyrus had discovered emojis and sent them to you in hordes.

Sans on the other hand kept odd hours with his texting. Sometimes you’d go days without, though you saw him several times a week anyway for classes, so that was well and good. Most of the time though, he texted you in in the evening or the middle of the night seeming to favor that method of communication more on weekends. Your conversations, however, were never anything of substance. Most of the time it was a sharing of terrible jokes. You’d come to find that not only was Sans a master of puns, but also had a bevy of knock knock jokes at his disposal.

_no work tonight?_

 

Sans was and always had been apparently, a popular weekend customer to Grillby’s. Honestly, you’d expected to see him while you’d been working tonight. A couple of your regulars had made commentary about expecting him to come by, but your shift had ended and you’d been eager to get home. That had been a poor decision on your part, now that you reflected.

 

_I got off work a couple hours ago actually. Got quiet, so Grillby said go home._

_ah._

 

You looked at your phone and waited to see if he had anything else to say. Your phone remained quiet. You shoved it in the pocket of your sweats and abandoned the kitchen and your half-finished drink, heading back to your room. You climbed into bed and buried yourself under your blankets. Your phone buzzed in your pocket again.

 

_knock knock_

 

You regarded the message, feeling small smile form and tapped out a reply. You were glad to see Sans offering a joke. You needed some levity, even if the skeleton didn’t know it.

 

_Who’s there?_

_wire_

_Wire who?_

_so wire you still up?_

 

You frowned at the screen. For a moment, you were tempted to be honest and tell the skeleton about what had just transpired. But the dominant part of your brain bullied you away from the idea, stating that he had no time for your problems. You’d deal with it alright on your own.

 

_Just can’t sleep is all._

_aww, are you feeling bonely?_

_Sans, this natural punomena of yours is cause for concern._

_i’m sorry that you just can’t handle a friendly ribbing_

Sans’ bad puns had managed to work a smile back onto your face. You continued texting him for several hours until you finally started to feel your eyes drooping, losing the fight against your exhaustion.

Sunday you slept late. Your exhaustion from the previous late night and the stress that had come with it left you more or less bed-ridden for most of the day. You got up at one point to grab food, deciding that a poptart was a suitable choice of a meal. You returned to bed and ate it, burning time by watching youtube videos on your phone.

After a few hours of allowing yourself to wallow, you got up and went to take a shower. You had another shift tonight at Grillby’s and you knew you’d have to do the adult thing and pull yourself together, no matter the shit that was going down in your personal life.

You quietly noted that doing the adult thing sucked.

Work would be a helpful distraction at least. You tucked in your shirt as you left your car to head into Grillby’s. As usual, the atmosphere was warm and inviting, and Grillby was working diligently at your own post behind the bar. He looked up and waved at you as you entered, as did a few other monsters that were your regulars.

“Back again tonight?” You heard Dogamy call.

“Grillby, you work the kid too hard.” Dogaressa added from the other canine’s side.

You laughed, “Nah, it’s all fine, I promise.” You made your way back behind the bar and approached Grillby. You’d yet to ask him about the possibility of more hours of work.

“Hey, Grillby?” The bar proprietor looked up from his work, regarding you curiously. “Have you got a second?”

Grillby carefully placed  glass back on the counter and leaned gave you his full attention. “ _Is something the matter?_ ”

“What?” You blinked, surprised, and a touch worried that the monster had seen right through you immediately. “No, I just… I was wondering if there was a way you could give me some more hours to work.” You contemplated if you should elaborate on the why of that, but you decided against.

Grillby curled a fiery hand against his chin in thought for a moment. “ _Well...I suppose there are a few other nights in the week we could use you. But if you’re looking for full-time employment, I must tell you that I cannot support it financially._ ”

You were quick to reassure him. “Oh no, no I just...I just needed a couple more hours of work. I’m having some financial trouble and I just...needed help anywhere I could get it.” Well, there was part of the truth anyway.

“ _I’ll take another look at your schedule and see what can be done._ ” Grillby told you finally. You let out a relieved sigh.

“Thanks, boss.” He nodded and moved past you to take up an order from Fia. You moved to resume your post.

Most of the night proceeded with busywork. It was all old hat to you, and no one was adventurous on the matters of drinking that evening given it was a Sunday, so most of your duties consisted of running the tap and clearing up glasses than mixing. It kept your hands busy, but your mind continued to wander. And wander it did, straight back into the mess of your life.

You wondered if you should tell Rebecca about your impending...well homelessness sounded too frightening of a word….lack of apartment was better. She’d be beside herself if she knew you’d kept this from her for so long. She had better connections to larger social circles than you did, thanks to being part of the Greek community on campus. Although Rebecca was one of your closest friends, you had never asked about being a roommate, if only because she lived with her girlfriend and you didn’t want to intrude upon the couple and their space.

Maybe they’d let you couch surf for a few days though...but that’d be all the time you’d want to impose on them.

Then there was the matter of your stuff. You’d have to buy a storage unit.

You bit back a groan of dismay at the thought of more financial expenditures. Plus you owned a _car_. How the hell were you supposed to move your stuff without tipping off your friends? Rent a truck?

You were pulled from your thoughts and intense frowning by the ringing of the bell above the door. People were still here, you had no need to get lost in your thoughts. You looked up and were surprised to see two large white dogs leaning intently against the bar, staring at you with concerned, dark eyes. “Uh...yes?”

The larger of the two whined again and shoved his head against your shoulder with a huff. Your hands went up to brace against his fluffy head near immediately “Whoah, okay, what?”

“greater dog and lesser dog can smell distress from two miles out, kid.” Sans had apparently been the new arrival to Grillby’s, and you could see him wave in greeting to a couple of the other patrons as he made his way to the bar. “based on the look on your face, i’m not surprised that they’re _dogging_ you like that.”

Baffled, you looked between the dogs and Sans. “I’m not...I’m fine!” You told the two dogs still trying to ward off Greater Dog’s attempts at...whatever he was trying to do. Cheer you up? They huffed, clearly not buying what you were selling.

“you can never fool a royal guard, kid.” Sans grinned at you from his newly acquired perch on a stool.

Hesitant, you patted Greater Dog’s head in what you hoped was a placating way. You hadn’t really known if that was a good idea, feeling that was a bit too far out of line, given that they were sentient, not pets. “I’m fine guys, really. Don’t worry about it too much.” Greater Dog didn’t seem to mind though (apparently), and leaned into the pat. “You guys can go sit down, it’s cool, really.”

They didn’t look like they were buying what you were selling, but between you and the stern look they were earning from Grillby at their behavior they hopped off the counter and made their way back to their seats, casting you an occasional doubt-filled glance.

“Didn’t figure they cared so much.” You told Sans, watching them go.

“s’just the way they are. they hate to see anyone upset. you should’ve seen them the day i brought Frisk in here to cheer em up after they failed a vocabulary test. pretty much tackled them to the floor until the kid distracted them with a ball.”

You let out a thoughtful ‘hm’ in response, grinning a bit at the mental image.

“so...what’s really eatin ya, buddy?” Sans brought your attention back to him.

In an attempt to avoid the question, you went to retrieve a bottle of ketchup for him, figuring that he’d want something to drink. You sat the bottle down before him, and he continued to stare at you, waiting. His omnipresent smile had thinned. “I’m fine, really I’m-” If you’d thought that Greater and Lesser Dog had looked unimpressed by your lying, then Sans really took the cake. “...lying through my teeth.” You expelled a long sigh, and Sans smiled just a touch, satisfied to be hearing the truth.

He grabbed the bottle of ketchup and helped himself. After a moment, he looked back at you placidly. “still waitin’ on an answer, kiddo.”

You looked at Sans silently, wondering once again just how much you ought to divulge. For one reckless moment, you nearly almost spilled the beans on everything, just like when he’d texted you last night. Something about the skeleton just made him dangerously easy to talk to. But that proud part of you refused to be swayed and kept the matter locked up tight. You would handle your own troubles. You wouldn’t burden anyone else.

“Just worried about school.” You sighed. Between Grillby and Sans, you were going to get pretty good at these half truths.

His smile changed to something that might have been a distant cousin of a frown. It was still his trademark neutral expression, but it was pulled a bit lower at the corners. “havin’ trouble with your classes?”

“Something like that.” You told him, departing a moment to go get Doggo another drink. You brought it to the table and guided Doggo’s paw to the new glass before you returned to the bar again.

Sans was toying with his ketchup bottle. His gaze on you was sharp, focused. You felt as if he was less looking at you and more staring right through you at something you couldn't see. After a moment, his eyes flicked back to meet yours. “you know if you ever need help with anything, you can tell me right?”

You froze for a couple of moments, wondering if there was a deeper meaning behind his words. Had he caught that you were only telling half truths? Meeting his eyes, you studied him, distantly noting that such a serious expression on Sans’ face didn’t seem to suit him. Swallowing back the socially acceptable, cookie cutter response that required waving his offer off, you simply nodded and looked away. “Yeah.”

He seemed to lighten up just a touch. “but if it's just school, i'll bet between me and Alphys, one poor inept human should have some chance at the sciences.” He’d given you an out. This time.

“And here we see Sans, demonstrating his modesty for all the world to see once again.” you gestured grandly in his direction, glad for a chance to steer away from more dangerous subjects. He laughed and you felt some relief as the tension started to drain from between the two of you.

“tell you what, kiddo,” he spoke up again a few minutes later, and you looked up in interest. “since you’re having so much issue with your classes, why don’t i help you out?”

You frown, trying to understand what he’s getting at. “What like a tutor?”

“not quite so serious.” he waved the term away. “think of me more like a study buddy. i know the material and like i said, physics is easy and so are the rest of the classes in the curriculum” He smirked, downing more ketchup.

“I…” You bit back a protest that was developing and looked at Sans hard for a long moment. You couldn't come up with a sound argument against it, and that proud part of you sure did try.

“Yeah…” you nodded finally. “Yeah I’d really appreciate that.” You smiled at him and for the first time in four days it didn’t feel as strained. “Thanks, Sans.”

“no problem, kid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *blows a long, loud raspberry at this chapter* 
> 
> Now you know how I feel about it. I wanted it out there though. And I adore Greater and Lesser Dog and I want to write more of those puffballs somewhere. 
> 
> Less angst in the next chapter. It'll be lighter and god it's sO FULL OF PUNS.
> 
> You guys can find me for more ridiculous repostings about Undertale and other junk on my Tumblr:
> 
> http://youngbarnowl.tumblr.com/
> 
> I'll answer asks, take complaints, and just generally flop around in a hopefully entertaining way. See you all in the next chapter!


	6. Study Buddy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans makes good on his promise of help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want you all to know that every time I get a comment, bookmark, or something of the like, I have to dance around my room in excitement. I seriously had no idea that people would ever enjoy this story so much and I'm just so damn grateful for every one of you.
> 
> This chapter is pretty much angst free. Angst-lite if you will. Enjoy. c:

It’d been a week since Sans had offered to help you with your classes, and a week and a half since your landlord had given you your deadline to leave your apartment. You had one more week and a handful of days left to pack up everything, and so far, your frantic scampering was amounting to a terrifying amount of progress.

Most of your apartment was boxed up, though you still weren’t sure where you were going to go. You had yet to break the news to Rebecca (she was going to kill you)...or anyone really. You just didn’t have that many close friends, though Sans and Papyrus were quickly making their way to the top. Actually, it was surprising how quickly you’d befriended many of the monsters in your life currently.

Papyrus you saw frequently around campus, and anytime he spotted you, he was sure to stop and chat uproariously for a few minutes before shooing you off to class. On many occasions, he even had a box of spaghetti to offer you. After you’d made up an excuse about an allergy to glitter, his cooking had gotten to a level of bearable, and you were able to eat his cooking without any real issues. Between conversations, his cooking, and his daily encouragements, you felt like Papyrus was one of the reasons you were still managing to cling to sanity with all that was happening in your life. Plus, if you devolved into madness, you knew he’d worry himself sick.

Papyrus didn’t deserve that.

You rolled your shoulder with a wince, trying your best to stretch the muscle that was twinging after you’d hefted your backpack. Giving up on the fact of being able to work out the kink in your muscle without a heating pad and several ibuprofen, you hurried up the steps to where Sans was waiting, regarding you with a neutral smile.

“hurt yourself?” He asked.

“Slept on my shoulder funny.” You lied.

“shoulders aren’t that funny.” he told you sidelong as you made your way out of the auditorium. “now all that muscle and bone, that’s funny stuff.”

“Well, we can’t all be made out of magic and function without something to get our bones moving about.” You fell into step beside the shorter skeleton, who was less walking across the campus and more casually meandering in the direction of the library.

“no need to be a _sore_ loser about your lack of magical prowess, pal. we can’t all be as incredible as my brother and i.” He winked at you, hands shoved deep in his pockets. With September having vanished into October, his jacket was getting to be more necessary as chill rose in the air. You’d donned a light hoody yourself today to fend off the wind.

You rolled your eyes, but there was a smile on your face. “Well luckily you’re both not a _pain in my neck_ or I’d be practically debilitated.”

“aw you like us too much to think that. but regardless, make sure to _wris_ t up that shoulder of yours. you don’t want to _sprain_ yourself.” He elbowed the handicap button for the door to the library, strolling through the doors that opened automatically for him.

You muttered ‘lazy bones’ at his back and he merely shot a grin over your shoulder.

“heard that one before kid, try again if you want to get _under my skin_.”

You snorted at the ceiling.

As you both walked across the lobby, a green lizard woman behind the desk waved to your companion. “Hello, Sans!” She called.

“hey, Cheryl.” He replied over one shoulder.

“Come here often?” You asked him curiously, looking back at the desk as Sans approached the elevator, forsaking the stairs. He really was lazy.

“propositioning me, are you?” Sans grinned cheekily at you, and you stumbled quickly to try to correct your phrasing. He laughed and waved you off. “don’t sweat it, kid. Cheryl’s a coworker of mine.”

“You work here?” You asked, the elevator pinged and the door opened.

“yup.” he hit the button for the third floor as you skirted in after him. “have for a few months now.”

You hadn’t seen him around before, but then again, you kept pretty odd hours at the library yourself. “You probably know where everything is then.” You joked as the elevator arrived to its destination.

“more or less. i can at least show you a good spot to study, anyway. finding study materials however, that’s what the computers are for.”

“So much for coming to you when I have to write an essay.”

A set of keys appeared in his hand as you made your way through some of the stacks. “c’mon kid, ya can’t go getting _shelf_ -ish on me. other people might need me too. can’t always be running about helping. s’too much work.” He stopped in front of one of the rooms towards the back of the building with a wide window, and unlocked the door.

“Almost like a job, huh?” You smirked, looking sidelong at him.

“almost.” he agreed, holding open the door and gesturing you in.

Like the smaller, personal study rooms, it was fairly utilitarian, possessing a small wooden table, a lamp attached to the wall that was currently turned off, leaving most of the light to come from the overhead lights, and four chairs. On the wall was a dry erase board, though the markers were missing. The wide glass window that faced from out of the study room and into the library completed set up, giving it the sensation of being more of a fishbowl than anything else.

“grab a seat and you can get started studying for that quiz.” Sans collapsed with all the grace of a sack of flour into one of the chairs, folding his arms behind his head.

You bit back a groan and eyed Sans across the table as you dropped your backpack. When he’d offered to help you study for a quiz, you had wondered if he’d actually be serious about the matter or if he’d simply do what he was doing now, which appeared to be preparing to fall into another in a long series of naps.

“Not in the mood for studying yourself, huh?” You ask, shaking your notebook and textbook free from the depths of your much abused backpack.

“don’t need it.” Sans chimed back breezily, eyes shut.

“I’m starting to think that modesty streak of yours can be seen from space.” you scoffed, and then looked down at the supplemental reviews at the end of the chapter, biting back a groan at how many parts there were to the problems. You’d be here for the next week. “If you know the material so well, why attend the lecture?” you muttered, irritation coloring your tones, but the sentiment was directed more at the algebra awaiting you than the skeleton.

“online classes can really _byte_ .” he shrugged. “i figure going to a real class once in a while could help take a _load_ off my computer and save me a forced work ethic. besides, what if some poor, wayward student needed my help with physics? i couldn’t possibly leave them to their struggles.”

You half-heartedly glared at him while he simply leveled a shit-eating grin in your direction.

You started working on your problems then, and spent a long stretch of time in silence. Sans, you were fairly sure, would end up falling asleep at some point as you ended up shifting through your notes. You finished your the first part of your problem after god only knew how long, cringing as you went to check the answer, and finding by some miracle of god or whoever was up there wielding the cosmic power that your math had checked out. You stretched your sore shoulder as you prepped to settle into the second of many parts, and glanced up at Sans.

He hadn’t fallen asleep as you’d expected, but rather he’d tipped his chair back on two legs, and had a joke book balanced on his knees that he was reading.

“What are you even studying anyway?” the words were out your mouth before you knew it.

“hmm?” Sans looked up.

You gestured at his book, which you assumed had been hidden in his coat as you hadn’t seen him bring anything in here. “I mean, you’re always...I dunno. Goofing off. But you’re in a physics class and taking online courses. What’re you even studying?”

Sans face morphed into a sly grin. “eh, whatever they can _pencil_ me in for. but my major isn’t particularly _note_ -worthy.”

“Sans.” you groaned.

“heh heh heh, sorry kid.” he relented with a laugh. “i’m...actually working on a double major. chemistry and quantum physics.”

“Holy shit.” You stared.

“yeah…” he glanced away and scratched the back of his skull. “Alphys has me beat though. she finished getting accredited and got her doctorate only a few years after we got to the surface.” he said with a shrug.

“But wasn’t she the Royal Scientist in the Underground? I thought she was already a doctor before you came to the surface?” you frowned, homework momentarily forgotten.

“yeah, but turns out humans don’t tend to regard monster doctorates the same as their own.” he spread his hands  “so here we are, once again in the collegiate system while you humans turn your messy laws messier to suit.”

“So wait, did you have a doctorate too?” you took no offense to his commentary on humans. Law was a mess. You were grateful you'd stayed away from it.

“heh, not really. just a lab rat.” he shut the joke book and laid it across his lap, one leg hooked on the underside of the table to keep him balanced as his arms tucked behind his head.

“So...this…” you gestured at the book. “Is child’s play to you, basically?”

“mm...yeah.” Sans shut his eyes, looking smug.

“So why not test out?” You asked, baffled. “You’d save yourself a lot of time.”

“i have. most things anyway. other stuff not so much. and like i said, sometimes it’s nice to be around other people rather than stare at a computer screen all day.”

“Well,” you blinked, drinking in that new information, “At least you’ll be out of here and onto bigger and better things faster that way.”

“yeah, you can’t do much up here of merit without a degree, i’ve found.” his smile had fallen some, and he looked pensive.

“Yeah…” you sighed in agreement. “Work-wise, you’ve got entry level and that’s about it unless you’re lucky. Even then, you’re lucky if a degree matters.” you sounded morose, and even you had to wrinkle your nose at the tone.

“‘course it matters.” Sans had opened his eyes and was regarding you seriously, then that shit-eating grin came back. “at least until you multiply it times the speed of light squared...then it energies.”

“Oh my god, of all the lame..I can’t believe…” You laughed. “I’m not even mad, that was great.”

Sans flashed you a large grin.

You finally managed to get ahold of yourself, and rubbed at your eyes. “Okay, okay...turn down the mega-watt grin over there before you blind someone and help me out with this.” You gestured to the next problem. “I know Dr. Camden talked about this last week and he didn’t quite cover it well enough for the book and it’s terrible gate-keeping questions.” You grumbled and Sans lowered his chair back to four legs, hopping up to come see the problem.

“I’m sure you’re _bright_ enough to get it...but let’s see…” Bracing a hand on the table, he leaned into your personal space, doubtless on purpose to pester you. He’d have to try harder.

You glanced between the problem and Sans, noting the focused expression that fell over his features as he studied it. It was like someone had flipped a switch between the usual comic goof that was Sans to a more serious persona. It was fascinating, and you found yourself silently marveling.

You hadn’t really been this close to the skeleton before, and took the chance to study his features. The planes of his face, the dim glow of his eyes, and subtle dips and divots in his bone structure you hadn’t noticed before. He was so alien, and yet he had a form that was similar to your own at its basest levels.

Sans finished reading the problem and turned to explain to you, taking a breath to speak before pausing to assess your staring. You grimaced, feeling your face heat a bit at having been caught. A sly smirk curled onto his face, and you thought the lights in his eyes flashed a touch brighter. “see somethin’ you like?” he echoed his first statement to you from day one of class.

And comic Sans had returned. ...Comic Sans...heh. Wow how did you miss that one? You’d have to remember it for later.

“Between you and the heinous physics problems, I don’t know how I can control myself.” You drawled. “I’m a paragon of restraint.”

“so long as you don’t jump my bones. this is a library after all.” Sans shoved his hands in the pocket of his jacket and headed towards the door, grinning wider at the sound of your palm meeting your forehead. “just a sec, pal, there’s a book i know that might be able to help you with some of this.”

“Alright.” You sighed, flopping back in your chair and wincing as you jostled your sore arm. You’d have to ice it down when you got home. Then aggravate it some more since you hadn’t finished packing up your living room. At least you’d secured a storage unit to keep your stuff in for now. You’d have to start moving the smaller stuff soon.

You shook your head, not wanting to think about it right now, instead turning to peer out the wide windows of the study room to see where Sans had gone. He was lost somewhere amongst the stacks, though you thought you could see a bit of blue that was his jacket between some of the shelves.

Sans returned shortly, a small book was tucked under his arm and he placed it on the desk in front of you proudly. You leaned over to look at the title.

“ _Everything that Matters: Pocket Edition_.” You read, then smirked. “Is this where you make another energy pun that makes Einstein roll in his grave?” You asked.

“nah.” Sans winked at you. “but i like the author’s style.” He flipped open the book and ran through a couple of pages quickly. “mmm...i’d recommend checking out their explanations in chapters four…” he paused and his non-existent brows inexplicably furrowed (you’d have to ask him how the hell that worked it was driving you crazy) and let out a thoughtful sound. “and probably twelve.” he finally added, seeming satisfied. “best part is, you can check this book out for a while.” he slanted a mischievous look at you “for those times i’m not around to stare at.”

“Oh god,” You snort, nearly injuring yourself with your eye roll “I take back everything I’ve ever said about your modesty Sans. Your ego is out of control.”

“oh, well what do you call that earlier then?” he teased. “couldn’t keep your eyes off me.”

“Never fear, the ceaseless glaring was only for your invasion of my bubble.” you amended, crossing your arms and giving your best ‘I will fight you don’t think I won’t’ expression.

Sans was giving you one of those looks again, like the same one he’d leveled on you at the bar the other night. Like he was looking straight through you at something that wasn’t there. Finally he cracked a grin and a soft laugh. “alright then, i’ll leave you to it.”

Your arms dropped in surprise and you swiveled in your chair, thrown by the one eighty of his emotions. “You leaving?”

“yeah, i got work.” he gestured a hand in a vague motion.

“What, downstairs?”

“different work.” he said cryptically, smiling a little more at your confusion.

“How many jobs do you even have?” you blanched.

Sans made a noncommittal noise, and turned to leave. “be sure to lock up when ya go, buddy. text me if you have anymore issues.” with that, he wandered out with a lazy wave.

Still struggling to catch up, you could only watch him go. Sans was apparently a professional at simply slipping away whenever he wanted, like nothing could pin him down, not even social propriety.

You reflected on that a moment before you were pulled out of your reverie by your phone buzzing.

 

_by the way, Paps wants to invite you over again. wants to take you up on that offer to make meatballs. monday work for you?_

 

Amused, you regarded the message for a moment, glancing out at the library and wondering why Sans hadn’t just bothered to ask before he left. “Lazybones.” you scoffed.

 

_Sure. I should be free then. I’ll text Papyrus and let him know. Hopefully we can get a pretty good dish of spaghetti going._

 

_spaghetti better than what my bro already makes? impastable._

 

_Sans._

 

_heh heh heh ;)_

 

You laughed softly, regarding the last text and emote from the skeleton before you put your phone down. You were feeling...better after today. The strain and stress were still there, but somehow spending your time with Sans had brought you some direly needed levity. He'd been light, and playful, and it had distracted you perfectly and helped you relax. You contemplated that with a faint smile, even as you went back to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks as always for reading guys! Like I said, I really appreciate you all! Next chapter is less Sans and more monsters but still important! I'll see you all then c:
> 
> (Also holy crap so many new followers on my Tumblr I'm so sorry for this decision you've made.)
> 
> For anymore bad decision makers, you can find me here!: http://youngbarnowl.tumblr.com/


	7. Buying Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes even when you do your best to hide things, people catch on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone! I figured as an extra gift (late as it is on Christmas, sorry), I would give an early update. This chapter is fairly short, so sorry about that, but it does have some interesting world-building stuff to it regarding Souls and such, at least...touched on briefly. Plus more Fia (I love Fia).

“ _ Hey… _ ” the soft, crackling voice caused you to look up from the salt container you were filling.

It was Sunday, after close, and you had stuck around to help Fia with some of the closing duties. Living out on Mt. Ebott meant she had a bit of a ways to drive, and it was always helpful to get out of the establishment as early as she could after close. 

She was wringing her fiery hands together, the fire at the tips of her fingers burning with tints of blue from the salt she’d been handling on the other side of the room. “ _ Are you...are you doing alright? _ ”

You blinked, feeling yourself hedge away from the inquiry immediately, and a lie on your lips. “Oh, yeah I’m okay.” 

You weren’t okay.

Although you had a week left before your landlord’s imposed deadline, you’d taken advantage of the weekend and gotten some serious moving done. Admittedly it’d been a chaotic and worrisome process since you’d boldly (stupidly) decided to enlist some assistance from helpful souls on Craigslist. That had been a stressful four hours, but you’d been lucky that they weren’t wackos. You’d paid what you figured was the price of early gray hairs for secrecy. And sixty dollars.

The larger furniture items of your apartment were cached away in a storage unit now, leaving most of your daily essentials and the boxes you were planning to move on your own later. A couple of things you’d left in your apartment as forfeit, having bid them tearful farewells in your own time. Like your couch. You loved the damn lumpy, dusty thing. But sometimes you just had to cut your losses.

“ _ Oh. _ ” Fia hovered her eyes downcast uncertainly before she looked up at you. “ _ It’s just that..I wasn’t sure since...I know you asked my Uncle about more hours and your Soul’s been looking off lately I just- _ ”

“My Soul?” You interrupted, staring. You hadn’t expected that.

“ _ Yes. It’s been looking off so I just thought something might have been wrong and I was worried. _ ” Fia finished the prior statement you’d interrupted.

“You can see my Soul?” You were still hung up on that.

“ _ Well, sort of yes. Some monsters can see Souls. _ ” She furrowed her flaming brows. “ _ But...you didn’t know that, did you? _ ”

“No.” You sat down on the edge of one table, rolling the salt shaker in your hand as you studied the polished floorboards. Up until now, the thought of whether or not a 'soul' was a real thing had been something you'd left to religious debates. You'd heard mention of it in relations to monsters and humans a couple of times, but never anything solid. But apparently they were real. And you had one. And it was...not looking great. Huh. “You said...it looked off? What did you mean?” You looked back up at her.

“ _ Well...usually when something’s wrong...a Soul looks different. When someone’s hurt..or...or unhappy or scared...or dying. _ ” She looked uneasily up at you.

“I’m not dying!” You quickly reassured her.

“ _ Oh thank goodness, _ ” Fia’s hand flew to her chest and she exhaled a scattering of sparks in a sigh of relief. “ _ But your Soul  _ has _ looked different lately. Dimmer. Fainter….small. _ ” Her voice was distant as if she was trying to find the proper words to describe it to you in a way you could understand. When she looked up at you, her face was so full of unhappiness and concern that you felt it hit you like a physical blow when she spoke. “ _ What’s happening? Can I help? _ ”

You’d once hear that monsters were made of two things, kindness and magic, and you could see both of those things represented en masse in the fire elemental before you. 

It broke the dam.

The words spilled out before you could hold them back. “I got evicted from my apartment.” You smacked a hand over your mouth.  _ Shit. _

Her eyes went wide. “ _ Oh! Oh no! What...what happened? Are you okay? Do you have somewhere to go? _ ” Concern was woven through her words like a thing that rightfully belonged there. There was no pity in her tones, and somehow that made it easier to let the rest fall out.

“Not really...no. I’ve gotten most of my stuff moved out but somewhere to live is...a work in progress. I figure I’ll just have to..couch surf. When I finally y’know...tell people.”

Fia placed one hand on her hip and sighed. “ _ And just when were you planning to start telling? After you were living out of your car? _ ”

That had been the plan actually. Or y’know...never. Never was good.

“I wasn’t planning to get anyone involved. It’s my problem, and I can...y’know...sort it.” You turned back to your salt shaker and moved to another booth. Fia followed you, unshakeable and determined.

“ _ Are you going to drop school? If it’s straining your finances then maybe you shou- _ ”

“No.” You said tightly, feeling everything in you recoil at the idea of quitting. Of dropping out of school again. You couldn’t fail like that again. Not after you’d worked so hard to get back into it again. Your friends had all already graduated. They’d swept by you while you sat back and tried to gather yourself. You didn’t want to watch that happen again. “I’m going to stay in school. I’ll figure it out.”

“ _ So how’s the whole...figuring it out thing going? _ ”

Your silence was answer enough. You couldn’t look at her, feeling your face flush in embarrassment and frustration.

“ _ If you need somewhere to stay, you can always crash on my couch for a few days. _ ” Fia said gently. “ _ I wouldn’t mind. I mean...it’s out on Mt. Ebott in the monster settlement, and I have some...kinda interesting roommates. But it’s something _ .” 

You looked up, surprised and touched at the offer. You hesitated on answering. “I...I still have stuff back at my apartment. Some clothes and stuff…day to day things.” You were the one wringing your hands now. “I’d...need to get them if...if I can stay.”

If Fia had a mouth, you could tell she’d be practically beaming. As it was, her eyes crinkled up at the edges and the fire of her head crackled and snapped like a warm hearth. You found yourself embraced in a soul-warming hug before you even knew what was happening. “ _Of course you can! And_   _ I’m glad to hear it. We can go over to your place when we’re done and get the last of your stuff packed up and moved out. _ ”

You still technically had week. You wanted to tell her as much but...at the same time...staying until the landlord kicked you out didn’t seem the best plan either. It felt too much like holding onto something that was already slipping through your grasp like a fistful of sand. Even if you did manage to hang onto some of it, it’d only be bits and pieces, a portion of what it was.

“Okay.” You agreed. “But it’s only for a few days, okay? And...Fia...you...could you do me one more favor?” You felt like you had no right. She was already doing something so huge for you as giving you a place to stay for a while. “Don’t...don’t tell anyone.” You cast your eyes down, avoiding the look she was giving you.

“ _ I….well...alright _ .” She agreed, though you could see she didn’t like it.

And you didn’t like that she knew in the first place. Such was the cons of compromise. You met in the middle, even if you weren’t happy about it.

“Not even Grillby, okay?” You looked back at the kitchen, the owner of the bar was in the back, helping to shut everything down for the night.

“ _...okay _ .” she finally said, and you felt yourself let out a breath you hadn’t realized you’d been holding.

When you were finished with work, Fia followed you in her car back to your apartment. With her help, you packed the last few boxes into your car and you both drove out of the city. The monster settlement was a short twenty minute drive away, and you pulled into the small, quaint streets with some marveling. 

It wasn’t quite like a human establishment, yet it was. The same base elements were there but there’d been some architectural alterations made to better suit the monsters that lived there that while not immediately obvious, were detectable as something ‘off’ about the structures. Along the warmly lit sidewalks, you could see a few nocturnal monsters making their way out and about down the streets, alone or in groups. You even saw a few humans roaming about with them, despite the late hour. There was something heartening about seeing a harmony between the two races. The interactions between them felt more real here than it did in the forced confines of the classroom, no matter how much intermingling the college attempted to artificially create.

Fia’s home was a squat living complex on a short, unpaved road. She apologized about the lack of paving when she helped you gather your clothes and toiletries from the back of your car. “ _ They’re still trying to pave a lot of Ebott. _ ” she explained. “ _ We’ve gotten most of it done in the past few years, but the more we expand, the more we have to keep up with. _ ” she laughed, a sound like crackling embers, and led you inside.

A monster was reclined on the couch in the living room. He looked as best you could describe it, like a very muscular horse...fish...man. That part of you that loved to know how things worked was loudly wondering how that union had ever even happened. Then again, you supposed there were legends about kelpies and water horses...maybe this was a culmination of them. You were starting to realize they’d gotten a lot of things wrong.

“Hey, Fi.” the horse monster called, looking back over the couch, tossing his rich mane from his eyes. His gaze lit on you and a cock-sure smile settled on his face and he raised a brow. “New friend?” He stood, balancing with practiced ease on a long, rather muscular looking tail.

“ _ Yep, they’ll be staying with us for a few days. Treat them well. _ ” Fia was broadcasting to both of you, you figured, since the monster looked between you and your coworker. Fia introduced you to the monster, who was called Aaron. As she spoke his name, he’d launched into a powerful flex, showing off his biceps. You barely withheld a snort.

“Nice to meet you.” Aaron winked at you, you grimaced. Aaron just laughed and returned to the couch.

You found out that in addition to Aaron, Fia also lived with a small mouse monster with overly large ears who appeared to be half consumed by their shirt and hat, whose name was Dancer, and a very large, very muscular werewolf who wore nice jeans (and nothing else apparently) named Jimmy. 

Despite feeling out of place as the only human in the household, the monsters were all warm and friendly, and left you to your own devices after a short while. Fia helped you set up a bed on the couch in one of the spare rooms, “ _ The game room _ .” she’d called it, “ _ I’ve left you with some blankets and pillows. Bathroom’s down the hall on your right. Let me know if you  need anything, okay? _ ” Fia hovered for a moment at the door, then left you to settle in for the night.

You leaned back on the couch after she’d left, and after a moment simply gave up the war with gravity and flopped downward onto the small pallet Fia’d constructed for you on the cushions. At a loss, and afraid to creep back out of the relative safety of the small room, you pulled your phone out. You were surprised to see you had a few new messages. You flipped through them idly.

One was from Rebecca, asking about notes from one of your classes from last semester. You told her you’d take her your old notebook tomorrow and she could run some photocopies. The others were from Papyrus and Sans.

Papyrus’ texts were of course, still just as enthusiastic as ever.

 

_ HUMAN! SANS HAS TOLD ME YOU HAVE AGREED TO COME OVER TO COOK FRIENDSHIP SPAGHETTI TOMORROW AND TEACH ME HOW TO MAKE THESE ‘MEATBALLS’ OF WHICH YOU SPOKE. I LOOK FORWARD TO IT IMMENSELY. NYEH HEH HEH!!! _

 

He’d punctuated it with several emojis, all of which were unrelated, though the pile of smiling poop sure gave you a laugh. You decided Papyrus enthusiasm and commentary was likely rhetorical and went back to read Sans’ message.

 

_ hey _

 

He’d sent it three hours ago. You winced at the discrepancy and checked the time, just past one, wondering if you should reply or leave it. Well...you’d texted later than this before. Couldn’t hurt to respond, right?

 

_ Hey _ .

 

It was a few minutes before a reply came up, interrupting you while you checked your school email.

 

_ working tonight huh? _

 

_ I was. Sorry about the late reply. Did I wake you? _

 

_ no worries i was up anyway.  Pap talk to you? _

 

_ I did receive an emoji drenched message, yes. _

 

_ heh heh heh, sounds like Pap. you still good for tomorrow? _

 

_ Yeah. I’ll just have to run to the store though to grab some things. _

 

_ what time are you done with classes tomorrow? i can grab Pap and we’ll come with you. _

 

_ I have one more class after Camden’s, and it lets out at 2:30. _

 

_ perfect. let me know when you get out of class and we can all meat up for shopping. _

 

_ I hope that was a typo _

 

_ heh heh heh. okay maybe it was half-baked. _

 

_ Oh my God. _

 

_ i’ll cook up a better one i promise. _

 

_ GOOD NIGHT SANS. _

 

Despite this, you both continued to text for a while longer, punctuating conversation with terrible jokes and safe topics like school, work, and the ever-eager Papyrus. It left you smiling after you’d bid the skeleton goodnight (for real this time), and tucked your phone away.

As you nestled down into your borrowed blankets on the couch of the monster home, you were once again struck by the unfamiliarity of the place. The odd lumpiness of the couch, the way the blankets smelled (their detergent was different from yours, and the blankets appeared to be garnished with hair from both Jimmy and Dancer that you suspected no washer would ever be able to remove). Though your conversation with Sans had helped you calm down and relax some, you were still feeling tired but restless.

You had a feeling you might be in for a long night. Flipping onto your back, you threw an arm over your eyes and let out a long sigh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, at least things are a little better than they were...and things are still more or less under wraps...The characters I wanted to have Fia room with were a toss up but I really did want to write characters that were a little less defined. So we ended up with Aaron, the scarf mouse (whose gender will probably remain ambiguous because Iunno what they are) and the Ice Wolf, who mentioned post Pacifist run that he wanted to buy some pants and go by the name Jimmy Hotpants....so he did.
> 
> Thanks again for reading guys. Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays (to those of you celebrating). Next chapter should come about soonish. 
> 
> ...I can't tell you how much I wish I had written enough to get a Christmas chapter out...I have one planned and everything. Oh well. Look forward to that in the future. c:
> 
> As always, you can find me on my tumblr at http://youngbarnowl.tumblr.com/ though at this rate I should probably start posting on a special blog just for this story since it's such a mixed bag already...hrm. Thoughts for later.


	8. Aggressieve Cooking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You have a day out with the brothers before you teach them how to make meatballs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long absence. The end of the year and Christmas got crazy. But here's your chapter but...ah...
> 
> *squints at it* ....it feels silly. Maybe because of the excessive Papyrus but...I dunno it could also be because I'm sick and I think I've got a fever but declared that I wanted to finish writing this chapter anyway...apologies.

Sans had informed you after class that he’d meet you with Papyrus in front of the library at 2:45. That had been perfect for you, given that you needed to stop off and pick up something heavily caffeinated. Your night at Fia’s place in Ebott had been rough, plus you’d had to get up even earlier in order to make sure you arrived to your morning classes on time. 

It’d been pretty surreal, waking up in a house full of monsters. You’d come out into the kitchen to see Jimmy in yellow pants drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. It’d been very Werewolves of London. Dancer had emerged sleepy eyed from their room as you left and waved goodbye, promising to let Fia know you’d headed off to campus.

Between lack of breakfast and lack of sleep, you were actually fairly impressed you’d made it through lectures this afternoon. You weren’t looking forward to reviewing your notes anytime soon. They were likely illegible, thanks to your zombie-state. You hadn’t thought it was that bad until you’d caught Sans flashing you grimaces every now and then mid-lecture and making a comment before you’d parted ways about how you almost made him look alive in comparison.

So now you were nursing one overpriced coffee to ward off your exhaustion and the late October cold. You sipped slowly from your cup, bracing your sagging frame against one of the weathered white pillars to block some of the wind while you waited for your friends to show up. Or for the caffeine to kick in. Whichever came first was fine by you.

You were about to knock back the last of your coffee when you heard a very loud declaration of: “HUMAN!” and you were hugged by Papyrus.

More correctly, you were tackled by Papyrus at a full speed run and hefted off the ground. You felt like you’d been clotheslined as you wheezed against Papyrus’ chest in shock. You had no idea where your coffee went, but you counted yourself thankful that your shoes were still on after the force of impact. “H-hey Papyrus.” You choked out.

“I AM SO GLAD TO GET TO SEE YOU AGAIN, MY FRIEND! I HAD THOUGHT WE WOULD MEET AGAIN SOON BUT I UNDERESTIMATED HOW LARGE THIS CAMPUS TRULY IS.” He put you down and you stumbled only slightly before you gained your feet. Papyrus didn’t seem to notice, placing his hands on his hips as he looked down at you. You nearly laughed aloud at his choice of clothing for the day.

Papyrus was wearing kelly green shorts despite the colder weather, and a tank top that had been heavily edited to suit...well...Papyrus own sense of style apparently. The pale pink tank top looked like it had once said ‘messy hair, don’t care’ in curly script. But most of it had been scrawled out or had letters added to it so it said ‘PAPYRUS CARES’.

“I SAW YOU SEVERAL TIMES...BUT WHEN I APPROACHED...IT...ER...WASN’T YOU.” He rubbed his chin and you hid a smile behind your hand, wondering how many students Papyrus had hugged out of the blue.

“Well, you’ve found me now, and you only have to text and I’ll answer.” you told him, looking around. “Is Sans not with you?” You blinked.

“right here.” his voice was right next to you.

“ _ Shit! _ ” You gasped, stumbling away in surprise. “God, Sans don’t do that!” you scolded, clutching at your chest as you tried to gain your breath back.

Sans seemed unperturbed, grinning to himself. “sorry for  _ skull _ -king about.”

“SANS! IF IT’S NOT ENOUGH TO SCARE THE HUMAN OUT OF THEIR WITS, NOW YOU SUBJECT THEM TO YOUR PUNS?” Papyrus huffed, crossing his arms and giving Sans a look.

“what can i say, it’s nice to have someone around who  _ spine _ -ally appreciates my jokes, bro.” he looked sidelong to you even as Papyrus protested vehemently and though you tried your hardest, you were fighting a losing battle against smiling between the antics of both brothers. He held out your errant coffee cup to you, though you could have sworn his hands were empty a second ago. “you dropped that, by the way.”

“How did…” you squinted at the cup, taking it from him. It still had a few sips of your coffee left. “Nevermind.” You shrugged it off and drained the last of the coffee. Thanks to the coffee and the tackle from Papyrus, you were a bit more awake (and slightly bruised). “Alright, so shopping.” You looked between them both.

“YES!” Papyrus declared, a finger shooting skyward. “WE MUST SHOP FOR THE MEATBALLS FOR MY FRIENDSHIP SPAGHETTI!”

“Been meaning to ask, Papyrus, what’s a friendship spaghetti?” You were almost scared to ask if it involved more glitter among the noodles. You wondered if you’d need to remind him of your ‘allergy’...

“IT IS MY MOST SPECIAL DISH. I SERVE IT TO ANYONE WHO I WISH TO BE MY FRIEND! NYEH HEH HEH!” Papyrus had gone starry eyed at the thought, his grin wide enough to threaten his brother’s.

“Sounds pretty great, Papyrus.” You smiled at his enthusiasm.

“YES, IT IS GREAT, LIKE I. BUT DON’T EVER FEEL INTIMIDATED BY MY GREATNESS. I WILL ALWAYS BE YOUR FRIEND, NO MATTER HOW IMPRESSIVE I BECOME.” Wow that was...really kinda sweet.

“you’re the coolest bro.” Sans seemed to echo your thoughts, the smile he seemed to reserve solely for his brother was on his face again. After a moment, he looked to you. “there’s a shopping center near our place if you want to follow us over there, or you can just hitch a ride. whichever works.” He shrugged.

You opted to save yourself the gas since you were living (sort of living anyway) far out of town at the moment, and followed the skeleton brothers. Papyrus’ car was as ostentatious as the skeleton himself. A bright red sports car with a convertible top. You’d looked at Papyrus with a raised brow but he’d merely thrown open the door for you gallantly so you could climb into the backseat. Sans in the front seat had snickered at your reaction.

Based on his previous performance in a motorized vehicle, albeit smaller, you were more than a little hesitant when Papyrus slid behind the wheel. You did your best to subtly find something to hang on to and double check that you were buckled in. As it was, though Papyrus kept up a steady flux of conversation the entire time, his driving was extremely safe. The just skeleton seemed to take it upon himself to abide by every law in the book, and would often point out others who were more neglectful than he, even stopping mid-sentence at one point to point in the rear view mirror and declare “THAT IS NOT THE CUSTOMARY FOLLOWING DISTANCE FROM A BUMPER ONE SHOULD MAINTAIN! FOR HIS SAFETY, I SHALL HAVE TO SLOW DOWN!” You’d helplessly tried to smother your laughter at that point, burying your face in your hands.

Your laughter had stopped when they’d jerked their car around Papyrus’, laying on the horn and yelling loud, ugly profanities regarding monsters. Your froze, heart dropping as you looked at the two skeletons. Papyrus was merely frowning, but you could see that Sans’ eyes had gone eerily dark, the lights in them extinguished. That was different.

You watched him warily as the atmosphere in the car grew inexplicably colder and your instincts screaming suddenly that you needed to be  _ anywhere but here _ . You leaned back, pressing against the upholstery of the seat, trying your best to give the smaller skeleton some distance. Papyrus seemed unaffected, staring after the other driver.

“WELL, THAT’S CERTAINLY EVEN MORE DANGEROUS DRIVING. I HOPE HE DOESN’T HIT ANYONE.” The lankier skeleton harrumphed, still managing a concerned look after the driver even after their behavior.

After a few moments, San’s eyes glowed back to life. “yeah. wouldn’t want them to have a bad time.” his chilling gaze had fixated on where the sedan had disappeared around the corner.

Conversation was a bit more sparse after that, but it hardly stopped Papyrus from trying to fill in the silence with his chatter. Something about his ceaseless wittering was calming though. It was distracting.

“WE HAVE ARRIVED AT THE FOOD STORE, HUMAN!” Papyrus’ declaration shook you from your stiff position, still wedged in the corner of the seat from the earlier incident.

When you were freed from the backseat, you took a moment to stretch out your stiff legs and arms. “Ughh...sports cars should never have been given back seats.” You mutter to yourself.

“guess passengers really  _ cramp _ their style.” Sans chimed in from beside you.

You snorted, a hesitant smile working back onto your face. Well...if he was cracking puns again, maybe he was back to normal? You weren’t sure what that had been back in the car, but if that had been Sans angry...A chill worked down your back and you did your best to dispel it with a small shake.

“Alright, let’s get this out of the way, and we can get started cooking, okay Papyrus?” The taller skeleton nodded eagerly, starry-eyed at the thought of the activities to come.

“LEAD THE WAY, AMIGO!” You blinked at him as he pointed valiantly towards the automatic doors of the store, and mouthed ‘amigo’ to yourself, nonplussed.

Sans shook silently with laughter next to you, clearly finding your confusion hilarious. “c’mon.” he ambled leisurely into the store.

A crumpled list emerged from your pocket, and you snagged a small basket. Given that Papyrus was a master of the spaghetti arts (his words, not yours), you figured you wouldn’t need too many items for just the meatballs and most of your supplies would come from him. You’d keep it simple. Ground beef, breadcrumbs, eggs, and garlic.

The brothers mostly trailed you through the store as you picked up what you  needed. The only time you really lost track of them was after you passed by the aisle full of rice, beans, and pasta. You saw Papyrus bolt and stopped, calling to Sans. “I think your brother has been claimed by aisle seven…”

“oh, yeah i should have warned you that you can never get Paps to just walk  _ pasta _ that aisle.”

You directed a large frown at the skeleton, who merely grinned back at you, nowhere near as abashed as he probably should have been for that awful pun.

“AMIGO!” Papyrus’ shout drew the attention of both of you, as well as half the store. You hurried to go see what he needed. Sans shuffled after you at a more sedate pace.

“What’s up, Papyrus?” you looked up to see him holding a box of noodles in his hands.

“OH THERE YOU ARE. TELL ME, WHY ARE THESE WHEELS IN THE SPAGHETTI AISLE?” You looked down at the box he was showing you, seeing the boxed noodles were indeed wheel shaped.

“Oh well...uh they’re called rotelle noodles. Though I have no idea why they look that way. Decoration maybe?”

“YOU HUMANS DECORATE YOUR SPAGHETTI WITH WHEELS?” Papyrus seemed at once shocked and delighted.

“just imagine the  _ pastabilities _ .” Sans was watching Papyrus with a smirk.

“AUGH. SANS. MUST YOU?”

“sorry bro. you know it’s  _ impastable _ for me pass up a good pun.” Sans egged him on, flashing you a wink.

“SANS!” Papyrus was scowling at Sans, though you could see the faintest grin at the edges of the lanky skeleton’s mouth. You yourself were fighting full out laughter at their exchange.

“aw you love it.” Sans rocked back on his heels.

“YES AND I CAN’T BELIEVE IT. MUST YOU ALWAYS GET SO SAUCY WHEN YOU START CREATING YOUR PUNS?”

“Uh...Papyrus…? Did you just um-” You asked and the taller skeleton trailed off.

“i’m so proud.” Sans wiped away a non-existent tear.

“HUMAN,” So now you were ‘human’ again. That was fine by you. “PLEASE CAN WE FINISH HERE AND GO BACK TO OUR HOME?” Papyrus looked at you, stricken.

You laughed, “Sure, Papyrus.” You looked at the box in his hands. “Did you want to get those for the spaghetti tonight?”

“BUT OF COURSE!” The skeleton enthusiastically shoved the box of pasta into your basket, the trauma at the hands of the flying pasta puns apparently forgotten. Your group  made their way up to the front to check out, Papyrus laughing proudly at his newly acquired ‘wheel spaghetti’ with a happy “NYEH HEH HEH.”

You finished ringing everything up at a self-checkout line and had just finished bagging up your items. You turned to finish paying only to find that Sans was holding the receipt out to you, gripped casually between his index and middle finger bones.

“Hey...you didn’t have to-” you started, but Sans cut you off.

“don’t worry about it, bud. consider it a thank you for teaching Paps something new.” he smiled at you, and you took the receipt uncertainly before you folded it up and put it in the bag. “besides, a  _ penne _ saved is a  _ penne _ earned.” he winked, morphing your discomfort into amusement, even as Papyrus let out a sound of outrage.

When you’d returned to the skeleton brother’s house, Papyrus practically sprinted for the kitchen, the grocery bags clasped eagerly in his hands. You watched him go, wondering if it was possible for him to kick up a smoke trail.

“another lesson from Undyne.” Sans told you, leaning against the open door of Papyrus’ car, staring after his brother before he looked at you and smirked. “two trips with groceries is for losers.”

Shaking your head, you followed the other skeleton brother back inside and into the kitchen. Sans made for the kitchen table to sit down, but Papyrus quickly intervened. “OH NO YOU DON’T, BROTHER! THE HUMAN IS BEING SO KIND AS TO TEACH ME A NEW RECIPE. WE SHALL BOTH GIVE THEM OUR UNDIVIDED ATTENTION!” He had plucked Sans from the chair and was hoisting him aloft in front of you in a way that you immediately thought of the opening of Lion King.

“....’kay” Was all Sans said, apparently amused with his brother, even as he was awkwardly hanging in his grip.

“If you uh...don’t want to cook, you don’t have to.” you said to Sans, as he was dropped back on the floor.

“nah. don’t worry about it. i don’t know if i’ll  _ meat _ your standards, but i’ll give it a go.”

“I CHANGED MY MIND. HE SHOULDN’T HELP.” Papyrus had found his apron, only this one was different. Cardinal red, it declared in white print ‘Kiss the Cook’. You snickered.

“Nice apron, Papyrus.” You told him, looking around for a few bowls and a pan.

“OH, THANK YOU HUMAN.” You found a glass mixing bowl and placed it on the counter, and set about removing the groceries from the bags. “I FIGURED IT APPROPRIATE GIVEN THAT THIS IS A DATE.” You nearly dropped the eggs.

“Uh...run that by me again, Papyrus?” You said weakly, convinced you were doing that whole ‘turning red’ thing again. Papyrus didn’t seem to notice, though you could see Sans was wheezing silently behind his oblivious brother.

“WELL, YOU ARE A HUMAN WHO COOKS SPAGHETTI. WITH MEATBALLS. IS THAT NOT TYPICAL HUMAN COURTSHIP?” He looked at you, baffled, then to his brother for confirmation. Sans was unavailable for comment, braced against the counter with one arm around his ribs. You hoped he cracked a rib.

“I….what?!” You were still lost.

“WELL, I DID DATE FRISK ONCE. THEY COULD COOK SPAGHETTI TOO.” He puzzled it out for a moment, then looked at you, stricken and...interestingly...turning...orange. “OH DEAR. DID I MISREAD THE SITUATION?” He yelled.

“Uh...huh…” You nodded slowly, now aiming a glare at Sans. He’d been the one to tell you that Papyrus had wanted to have you over again. Had he put his brother up to this? You braced the heel of your head against your forehead to fend off an oncoming headache. You hadn’t had enough coffee in you today to deal with this.

“WELL….I….THAT’S GOOD...BECAUSE...I ONLY HARBOR THE MOST PLATONIC OF FEELINGS FOR YOU.” 

Or maybe you wouldn’t have to.

Papyrus threw back his head and laughed, though it sounded a tad forced. “I WAS WONDERING IF I WOULD HAVE TO LET YOU DOWN EASY.” He scrambled to hook his brother’s arm in his grip and dragged him forward. “SANS, QUIT YOUR BOONDOGGLING AND COME HELP US.”

“ok.” came the reply, the hoodie-clad skeleton having apparently gotten ahold of himself.

Your face still felt warm, but you started to work your way through the recipe off the top of your head, assigning different duties to the brothers and yourself in order to divert your flustered attentions. You had Sans and Papyrus measure out the dry ingredients while you diced the garlic clove and tossed it into the glass bowl where you’d dumped the ground beef.

“HUMAN, WE HAVE YOUR MEASUREMENTS!” Papyrus scrambled over and dumped the rest of the necessary parts in, appearing in no way bothered by earlier’s going ons.

“Great, I’m going to get some water boiling. Will you guys mix that up really well? Then you can start making meatballs. Just roll them up and put them in a bowl.”

“ok”

“BUT OF COURSE HUMAN!” 

By the time you’d set up the water to boil and retrieved a pan on which to cook the meatballs, you’d seen that the brothers had made decent headway….sort of. They’d less made meatballs and more….lumps. Some of them were in weird shapes. Papyrus was currently making what looked like a meat star and Sans was simply leaning against the counter and watching with amusement while he held the bowl full of his brother’s creations.

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you guys not to play with your food.” you teased, coming over to inspect the results.

“NO,” came the cheerful and unabashed response. “IS THAT A HUMAN SAYING?” 

“Yeah, but don’t worry about it’s meaning too much.” you waved him off. “Hey, Papyrus, would you like to help me cook the spaghetti while I fry up the meatballs?” You’d considered baking them, but frying them seemed like your fastest option, especially given Papyrus’ proficiency at whipping up vast amounts of pasta in record time if his portions production alongside Undyne at lunch a few weeks back was any indicator.

Papyrus dropped the meat-star he’d been preoccupied with into the bowl of ‘finished misshapen meatballs’ and dove for the box of newly acquired wheel pasta eagerly.

While you waited on the pan to heat up, you drizzled some olive oil onto the warming surface and beckoned Sans to bring the bowl over. When it was finally hot enough, both brothers watched curiously as you browned the sizzling meat lumps.

“wow, they’re not bursting into flames or anything.” Sans said, impressed. “looks like you really know what you’re doing.”

“Burst into flames?” Your brows shot up. You sure hoped your meatballs didn’t do anything like that.

“BUT AREN’T THEY SUPPOSED TO?” Papyrus asked, sounding rather puzzled.. “HUMAN I DO THINK YOUR HEAT SETTINGS ARE QUITE LOW FOR SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS. UNDYNE HAS TOLD ME MY PANS SHOULD BURN AS HOTLY AS YOUR PASSIONS.”

Well that explained a few things.

“Well, I think in this case my uh...passions would be a bit too much for the meatballs.” You said slowly, hoping that sounded like a reasonable enough explanation.

Papyrus nodded enthusiastically, “OH YES, THAT MAKES SENSE!” You felt yourself sag a bit in relief that he’d taken that answer. You thought you heard Sans snicker beside you, but when you glanced at him, he was regarding you with an innocent smile.

“i think you guys’ve got it covered from here…” he placed the bowl on the counter and went to take a seat at the table, propping his skull on one fist. “i’ll be here when food’s ready.”

“SANS, MUST YOU BE SO LAZY?” Papyrus shook a wooden spoon he’d procured in his brother’s face. Sans seemed unaffected.

While the two brother’s had it out, or as much as one could have it out with a brother who only responded with ‘mmhm’, ‘okay’, and ‘sure Pap’, you finished up the cooking. To be honest, you were kind of relieved that you’d gotten to take over, given your last encounter with Papyrus minefield of a pasta dish. Granted, Undyne had been cooking too...but you couldn’t take chances. Plus this way no glitter would find it’s way to your food.

“Hey, guys.” You called, getting the brother’s attentions, Papyrus was orange in the face again, though you thought it might have been from outrage at his brother this time. Sans looked as serene as ever, though you thought he might have been a bit smug too at the rise he’d gotten out of his brother. “Dinner’s done.”

“EXCELLENT!” Papyrus dropped his wooden spoon onto the table with a clatter and rushed over to help you plate it.

When you’d sat down Papyrus took several long minutes to scrutinize the plate of spaghetti and meatballs from every angle, his hollow gaze critical. “WELL, IT CERTAINLY LOOKS LIKE AN EXCELLENT SPAGHETTI...BUT REALLY, DOES SPAGHETTI NEED SOMETHING ADDED TO IT?” He looked at you, seeking an answer.

You withheld a laugh. “Well...I think you’re the best judge of that Papyrus, since you’re a master spaghetti chef.”

Those magical words brought forth a raging tide of proud Papyrus proclamations. “OF COURSE, HUMAN! THERE ISN’T ANOTHER IN THE WORLD (except maybe Undyne) WHO CRAFTS SPAGHETTI AS WELL AS I. BUT I AM CERTAIN YOUR ATTEMPT WITH THESE WHEEL NOODLES AND BALLS OF MEAT WILL BE GOOD REGARDLESS.” With that, he heartily dug in. You watched him expectantly, feeling worried that the skeleton wouldn’t like it after all.

“WOWIE!!” The word exploded from Papyrus, and that appeared to be the only comment he had on the matter, as he started eating with gusto.

“heh...take it that means a job well done, bud.” Sans told you, leaning back in his chair.

You looked over at his plate to find that like before at the lunch with Undyne and Alphys, his plate was empty. Had he even eaten?

You frowned to yourself, but decided not to worry about it too much, and ate your own dinner. It wasn’t as good as Papyrus made it out to be, but you liked it, and you were glad he liked it.

When everyone was done, you got up, going to help Papyrus with the dishes. However, to your surprise, the skeleton fervently shooed you out of the kitchen toward the couch. “NO, NO, HUMAN! YOU COOKED DINNER, THEREFORE THE DUTY OF DISHES SHALL BE TAKEN CARE OF BY ME!” 

“O….okay.” You blinked, moving to the couch to sit down. 

Sans emerged from the kitchen a few minutes later and plopped down beside you. You passed him the remote, not really interested in watching much. He seemed fine with taking over the channel surfing. You fished your phone out of your pocket and checked the time. 6:39pm. You frowned, balancing your phone on the arm of the couch and leaning back with a sigh.

“dinner was really good, by the way. Paps wasn’t lying.” Sans said after a few minutes.

“Oh yeah?” You asked, blinking at him in surprise.

“yeah. i mean, it was still spaghetti, but it was different enough to be nice.” he shrugged in the depths of his jacket, rustling it lightly.

“I find it hard to believe that you’ve both survived this long on spaghetti.”

“well, that and Grillby’s.” Sans grinned at you.

“I can see you’re living a picture of vitality.” You prodded the slumped skeleton’s arm.

“hey, don’t  _ poke _ fun at me.” he laughed. “truth be told Pap can cook other stuff, it just tends to burn first.”

“What about you? Any secret chef skills lurking in that skull of yours?” you wiggled your fingers at him.

“maybe.” he hummed. “but even still, cooking’s a lot of work. gotta shop. prep. cook. clean up.” He jerked his chin in the direction of the kitchen where Papyrus was still washing dishes, as if to prove his point.

“Yeah, I can see how it’d be off putting to a lazy bones like you.” You smirked at him.

“eh...well…” Sans shrugged, not seeming keen on defending the point. “hey, you ever see this movie?” He’d flipped it to some monster movie you’d never seen before.

“Don’t think so. This from the Underground?”

“yeah. s’not terrible for a Mettaton movie. Paps goes crazy for the guy.”

“IS THE HUMAN STAYING FOR A METTATON MOVIE?!” Papyrus had appeared in the doorway, his voice deafening with his excitement.

“dunno, Pap, let’s see.” He looked at you and waited.

You still had to drive back to Ebott...but at the same time...this was...nice. You didn’t feel so much like you were intruding here as you did at Fia’s place. She’d kind of dragged you in. The skeleton brothers had invited you here. A little longer couldn’t hurt.

“Sure, Pap.” You looked at the taller skeleton, who was quiet for a moment before he jumped for joy.

“DID YOU HEAR THAT SANS? NOT ONLY WILL THE HUMAN STAY BUT THEY CALL ME ‘PAP’ TOO! THE FRIENDSHIP SPAGHETTI NEVER FAILS!” He launched onto the couch, landing beside his brother on the other end, and settled in gleefully.

You were left trying to catch up for a few moments, looking between Sans and Papyrus.

Somehow you’d moved beyond acquainted to a more comfortable place around the two. Whether or not Papyrus ‘friendship spaghetti’ had anything to do with it, you weren’t sure...but this...you didn’t mind this.

You settled in as well to watch the movie with the brothers, feeling a smile pull at your face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It seems silly, but I really wanted to focus on the fact that up until now, Reader hasn't felt comfortable enough around the brothers to call them by nicknames or anything, and that shift from Papyrus to 'Pap' was important...even if Papyrus practically pointed it out with neon signs. But that's just his way.
> 
> Despite the fact that it's a little off-color to have it in January...we'll be seeing some Halloween shenanigans here soon. I have some plans based off my own college antics. It'll also open the door for some more reader and sans one on one interactions and such.
> 
> Now...I'm gonna go pop some Nyquil and refuse to make more of a fool of myself. Thanks for reading guys!


	9. Idling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Midterms crept up on you, and so did your guilt. At least you know you've got shoulders to lean on and a comfy couch for studying.

After your lesson with Papyrus, things between you and the brothers felt a lot more relaxed. Though you knew that Papyrus considered you ‘One of His Most Excellent Friends!’ (capitals and everything), you had still been uncertain on what ground you stood. At best, you’d thought that you were a bit more than an acquaintance, and a little less than a friend. But it was as if you’d crossed a line in the last few days, and things had unwound naturally.

It was...nice.

The consistent friendliness of both brothers also proved to be an anchor for you as your classes shifted in the direction of more stressful things. Midterms had crept up without you noticing, as they seemed to do every semester. It shouldn’t have been a mystery that time passed quickly when you had to juggle school, a job, and well...homelessness, but it had anyway.

So there you were, sitting slumped in your tiny desk and feeling a creeping edge of panic as you reviewed the handout that Professor Camden had just sent around.

In your hand was four pages of things you would need to know in order to pass the midterm. 

Four. Pages. 

Front and back. 

You knew you were cringing.

“hey, anyone home? buddy?” You jerked up at Sans’ voice.

“What? Yes?” You blinked owlishly up at him.

“oh good, here i was thinking you were having a  _ problem _ .” He was standing beside your desk as everyone filtered out, hands shoved in his pocket. His review handout was nowhere to be seen.

“Just an anxiety attack, no big deal.” Your voice was bland as you feigned nonchalance, and you set the paper gingerly on the desk, staring at it with the same wariness one would afford a venomous snake.

“ah.” he rocked back on his heels. He was once again wearing his ridiculous pink slippers to class. You wish you had the confidence to wear stuff like that. Then again, knowing Sans as well as you did at this point, you figured it was more to do with laziness than confidence. “you know..” he looked down at the floor brows furrowed before he glanced up at you. “that offer to help  _ does _ still stand.”

You sighed, pushing the papers into your backpack. “I know...I just...I figure you’re busy between classes and all those jobs I keep hearing about between you and Papyrus. You have what, three?” You squinted at him.

“four, but who’s counting?” He shrugged.

You frowned at him, startled, but then waved a hand, “Okay. Exactly, I don’t think you’d have time for the amount of help I’d probably need.” You wrestled your zipper shut against your bevy of notebooks. Your attention was dragged away by a hand on your shoulder.

“buddy, look. i’m a lazy guy, but i wouldn’t offer if i didn’t mean it and didn’t have the time for it.” he removed his hand from your arm after a moment and shoved it back in his pocket. “how about this,” he began, looking thoughtful. “i help you with physics, you give me a rundown on physiology.”

“What?” you looked at him. You’d heard him clear enough, but the idea of Sans being unable to understand something seemed...well..impossible. Sure, the skeleton was lazy, but you’d seen enough of his returned quizzes and tests to know that he was no slouch even if he never took notes, and that this ease with Physics was more than talk.

“ _ tibia _ honest, you humans are some of the most complex organisms i’ve seen. having someone who’s actually human and knows what goes on is a good point of reference. so,” he stated matter-of-factly, “we can both study for midterms and not stress about wasting each other’s time. sound good?”

At a loss for words, you could only stare at him.

“good.” Sans seemed to be keen on channeling Papyrus, barreling right past any option you had of disagreeing, and he seemed to know it too, based on the crooked way he was grinning. “c’mon by tonight. i know Grillbz gave you some time off for midterms so i know you can  _ pencil _ me in.”

“I...uh..” your brain was finally starting to catch up, but your vocabulary heavily lacked the eloquence to support it at this moment. “Okay.” was what you finally settled for.

“anytime after four is when we should be home, so just swing by whenever okay? i already cleared it with Paps.” He turned and meandered out with a chuckle while you were left to gape.

Oh...that dirty skeleton. 

Now you had no choice. If he told Papyrus you were coming and you didn’t show up, you’d break the lanky skeleton’s heart, and you really didn’t have it in you to do that to him. God bless Papyrus, and damn his brother for his sneakiness.

“Ugh….” you groaned, throwing your backpack over your shoulder and making your way out of the auditorium.

Sure enough, as you’d feared, Papyrus’ slew of texts came shortly after. Your phone was buzzing loudly throughout your entire next lecture, earning you dirty looks from your classmates and one cleared throat and a pointed look from your professor. Your phone ended up buried at the bottom of your bag and turned off until you escaped your class.

When you finally checked later, you were astounded to see that the very eager monster had generated over fifty texts on your phone, ranging in content from his excitement at your arrival to their home tonight, to a monologue about what dinner would be, slews of emojis, and just...general Papyrus behavior en masse. “Oh man.” you sighed.

You’d made it back to your car and shucked your backpack into the passenger seat, just taking a few moments to sit in the silence. Self-conscious as you were about your needing help, you knew you could always come up with an excuse for Papyrus who could relay it to Sans without you needing to talk to him. But that would also mean you’d have no way to avoid going back to Ebott and Fia’s place.

Though the monsters living there had been nothing but courteous to you in the span of your stay, you knew that the living quarters were already stretched fairly thin before adding a human to the mix. You felt worse the longer you stayed there, and knew that you’d probably be clearing out quickly, even if you had nowhere else to go but your car. You’d just have to lie to Fia about it, and well...you’d deal with things as they came. Grillby  _ had _ been giving you additional hours, aside from the short break you’d been afforded now for midterms. It wasn’t much of a boost to your paycheck, but it’d help. Maybe you could put up an inquiry for a roommate. Or take out another student loan.

You winced at the thought.

Accruing more debt wasn’t your first or most ideal thought at the moment. And now you were just stressing yourself in circles. You took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, then started your car to head to the skeleton brother’s place.

You parked in front of the house, and sat for a second, just trying to gather yourself. You finally hauled your backpack from the passenger seat and left the vehicle to make your way to the front door.

You were admittedly, only a small bit caught off guard when Undyne answered. “What’s up, nerd!” she gave you a sharp-toothed smile, leaning towards you. Instinctively you drew back, and she laughed. “Gimme that,” she easily snagged your backpack from you and with her other free hand, hooked her fingers into your arm and dragged you inside, “C’mon! Don’t just stand outside all day!”

You could do little more than yelp in protest. “Undyne!” you attempted to free your arm from her hand, but she wasn’t having it. You could only stare when she flung your backpack (two textbooks, three notebooks, a calculator, and one now probably crushed half eaten bag of pretzels) with ease across the living room and into the chair.

“Sans! Your nerd friend is here!” Her attention was on the skeleton who was slouched on the sofa.

“oh, hey. you made it.” he sounded glad, though the smug grin on his face argued that he still remembered that he’d basically made it impossible to refuse.

“Yeah.” was the only response you could afford at that moment, as Papyrus came down from upstairs. 

Literally came down.

The skeleton had launched himself over the bannister to land on the first floor with a loud ‘THUMP’ in front of you and Undyne.

“Nice landing, Paps!” Undyne finally let you go and smacked Papyrus on the shoulder.

Your freedom was short lived as Papyrus got ahold of you next in a traditional bone-crushing hug. “WHY THANK YOU.” He boomed to Undyne as he released you so you could finally breathe. You staggered back a few steps, hoping that no one else was planning to grab you now. You cast Sans a suspicious glance, but he hadn’t moved from his space on the couch, simply watching the rest of you with a smirk.

“HUMAN!” You looked back up at Papyrus. “I APOLOGIZE. I KNOW THAT I TOLD YOU THAT WE WOULD CELEBRATE YOUR TEST PREPARING WITH AN EXCELLENT MEAL, BUT UNDYNE AND ALPHYS HAVE REQUESTED MY PRESENCE FOR TONIGHT TO WATCH THE ‘ANIME’.” he made finger quotes around the word and you bit back a grin.

“Oh...well that’s alright, I guess.”

“I DID TEXT YOU…BUT YOU MUST HAVE BEEN QUITE BUSY AS I HAVEN’T RECEIVED A RESPONSE!” Papyrus looked at you quizzically and you hunched a bit, averting your eyes. You’d mostly skimmed the texts from the lankier skeleton brother. “OH WELL, IT IS IS NO MATTER.” “Papyrus beamed. “WE ARE TALKING OF IT NOW. OH, HUMAN I HAVE LEFT ENCOURAGEMENT SPAGHETTI FOR YOU AND SANS WHILE YOU SCIENCE TOGETHER, AS WELL. IT IS NOT TEST PREPARING SPAGHETTI, BUT IT IS STILL GOOD!” He put his hands on his hips, looking pleased, he faltered after a moment and then leaned in to whisper loudly to Undyne. “THAT IS HOW IT WORKS, YES? THEY SCIENCE?” Undyne gave a shrug in response.

You bit back a laugh as best you could, leaving your words half marred by chuckles as you managed to form them.“Thanks, Paps. That’s really sweet of you.” you told him.

Papyrus jerked, looking back at you and blinking his eye sockets a few times. A faint, orange glow came to his cheekbones, but he didn’t lose his proud pose, and his grin burst back to life on his face. “YES, I KNOW. BUT ONLY THE BEST IS WORTHY OF MY FRIENDS!”

You looked from the tall skeleton and muscular fish woman to your backpack across the room. “Well, you guys have fun. I’ll...try to do the same as we...science.” You mumbled, managing a small smile, even in the face of adversity.

Papyrus laid a hand on your shoulder. “JUST DO YOUR BEST, FRIEND! I BELIEVE IN YOU!” His smile was sincere.

“I will.” You promised.

“GOOD! NOW, UNDYNE SHALL WE DEPART?”

“Duh! Been ready for forever!” She slapped you hard on the back in what you had to tell yourself was encouragement and not an assault even as you staggered from the force of the blow. “Study hard punk! I know all the shit and long nights Alphys had to go through. I believe in ya.” She and Papyrus made their way out the door, and thankfully this time, Undyne didn’t kick it off it’s hinges.

The house was a bit quieter with them gone, and you had to take a moment to adjust to the silence. You turned to retrieve your backpack, only to jump about three feet when you realized Sans had been standing right at your elbow.

“Jesus!” you yelped.

“no, just Sans.” he said, grinning.

“Har de har,” you told him making your way to your abused backpack. “I brought my old physiology notes by the way. Hopefully they can be of some help to you.” You called over your shoulder, removing the red notebook.

“i appreciate it. you’re really saving my  _ skin _ here, kid.” he told you, hands in his pockets. You hauled your backpack from the chair to the ground and plopped down on the couch. A few moments later, Sans settled beside you, leaning curiously to see the notebook. You smirked a bit, and offered it to him.

He flipped carefully through it, surveying your notes as you dug out your suggested homework problems, textbook, and notes from physics. “It’s no problem.” You told him. “It’s the least I can do anyway, for all the help you’ve given me.”

Sans smiled sheepishly, glancing up from where he was poring over the notes. “kid, we’ve talked about this. it’s a mutual relationship, not just one sided. you don’t owe me nothin’. in fact this is the  _ highlight  _ of my week.” he emphasized the pun, tapping the yellow streaks through the pages.

You groaned, though you couldn’t fight the small smile that appeared on your face. Sans appeared to have been waiting for it too, as his grin widened at the sight of it. “there now, no more moping. there’ll be plenty of time for that in the middle of the midterm.”

“True that.” You sighed, already feeling exhaustion creeping into your bones. Flipping through your physics book, you settled in to work on the listed problems.

Your study session together was mostly quiet. The silence was disturbed only by the click of your calculator, the scratch of a pencil, or the rustle of notebook paper as you or Sans flipped through pages of notes. Occasionally, you both stopped to ask each other questions regarding various formulas or definitions before slipping back into companionable silence.

You finally decided that it was time to call it quits for just a short break, shutting your book and leaning back against the arm of a couch with a sigh. “My brain...is mush.” you groaned and turned your head (which almost felt like too much effort) to look at Sans. The skeleton had stretched out on the couch, taking up most of the room and was still flipping casually through your notes.

“oh yeah?” he snickered, laying the notes down against his chest and folding his arms behind his head. He looked far too relaxed for someone who was supposedly struggling with Physiology. 

You frowned at him. “no one told me that the class would be teaching me a foreign language at the same time as mathematics and algebras.” You  huffed and then lifted your sheet to show him all the base formulas you’d copied down. “Look at this Sans, I could write a novel with this stuff.”

“you’d have to tell me how it goes buddy, cuz it’s all  _ Greek _ to me.”

“This textbook is roughly ten pounds and I’m sure I could cause damage if I flung it at you.” You deadpanned, holding up the text.

“easy now, no need to get  _ math _ -ty.”

“That was a stretch.” You shook your head, dropping the textbook you’d hefted onto your lap.

“they can’t all be winners. what can ya do?” he chuckled.

“Why do you like this stuff anyway?” you wondered aloud, flopping back in defeat against the couch.

“hm?” Sans sat up.

“Physics.” you gestured to the textbook in your lap.“I mean, you said you’re studying Chemistry and Quantum Physics. The first I can understand, but the second isn’t really a field for the faint of heart. Why dedicate your life to that?” You raised a brow.

“well…” Sans drawled, scratching his skull and looking away, seeming a bit uncertain… “it’s interestin’...for one.” 

You nodded, waiting for him to continue.

“and for another…” Sans let out a breath, and leaned against the arm of the couch, turning to look at you full on. “physics always makes sense.” You opened your mouth to quip a counter-argument to that, but Sans was waving you off. “yeah, yeah i know it’s confusing, but it makes  _ sense _ . you know what governs the universe right?” he looked at you.

“Uh..” you wracked your brain, dredging up previous lectures in all your courses. “Well...I mean...there’s natural laws?” You hazarded.

“exactly.” he nodded approvingly, a warm light in his eyes. He leaned his head back on the arm of the couch, closing his eyes. His hands rose to gesture as he continued to speak, almost as if he were repeating something he’d heard before. “the universe has laws. they don’t bend. they don’t break. they make no excuses for anyone. they’re just there. absolute. constant. doesn’t matter if you understand the or not. they’re there. even magic has to abide by them, believe it or not.” here, he cracked an eye open and looked at you with a glowing white pupil, a grin on his features. “physics works the same way.”

“Wow.” You said, impressed.

“mmmhm.” he hummed, sounding pleased. “though to be honest, uh, you humans could use a little updating on the matter.” he laughed.

“Updating?” you asked, looking at your hefty text and cringing.

“oh yeah.” Sans laughed. “you humans have science down pat. it’s really somethin’ incredible. but you’ve also elected to leave out the possibilities of what happens when science and magic work together.”

“I think there’s been a wide spread agreement that the supernatural and the sciences shouldn’t mix…” you mentioned, grimacing.  Magic was still a bit of a foreign concept to you, and it’s machinations were still a mystery to most humans. Only monsters seemed to understand it to it’s truest degree, and in depth studies had yet to be taken seriously simply because the word ‘magic’ was so taboo in a scientific setting. But now, thanks to Sans, you knew that it too abided by constants. It was a little reassuring.

“and that was before monsters came to the surface.” he added. “now that you’re all well aware, you have a lot to catch up on. trust me there’ve been so many times when i wanted to call Camden on his shit.” he smirked.

“It’s not his fault that his education and curriculum are lacking.” You mumbled, defending the professor. But you were still watching Sans wide-eyed. He’d really lit up on this subject.It was always so strange to see the lazy, slouching skeleton turn animated and excited. You were seeing a whole other facet of him.

“yeah,” Sans shrugged. “true enough. but boy, in the grand scheme of it, you guys are behind.” After a moment, the animated lines to his form relaxed into a slouch and he let out a breath. “so i guess, buddy, what i was trying to say was that i like quantum physics because it doesn’t change. it stays the same...no matter what happens. you throw the same numbers in a thousand times, and the results come out the same a thousand times.” his voice dropped off and that faint ghost of a frown was on his face. 

You didn’t like seeing that expression on his face. It looked so out of place. It felt like a shadow had descended on the room. You desperately wracked your brain, hunting for a way to pull his attention away from the dark path it’d embarked upon.

“Uh…” you started, and Sans looked up at you expectantly, “uh...you hungry?” You checked the time and winced when you saw it was only six. “I’m gonna go see what Paps left us.” You jumped up off the couch. You were terrible at cheering people up, but Papyrus and his cooking seemed to lift Sans spirits if the skeleton’s compliments on his brother’s cooking was any hint.

The brother’s fridge was a sea of tupperware containers with spaghetti filled in all of them in various states of decoration and decay. One of them was labeled with a bright yellow sticky note that had a declaration in red marker. “FOR THE HUMAN” you took it out and saw that “+ Sans” had been added in tinier messy scrawl at the bottom corner and you snickered.

Popping the lid off the container, you stared down at the contents, caught off guard. It wasn’t the usual spaghetti. It was lasagna...and if you squinted it looked kind of like Papyrus’ face. 

“Paps tried somethin’ new.” Sans voice from the entrance to the kitchen made you look up. The skeleton was smirking, doubtless having known about it all along. “have to say, you inspired him with the whole meatball thing.”

You turned your gaze back to the lasagna and grimaced. “Sans I think there’s...ribbons in this…” you poked at the congealed, sauce covered thing that was attempting to mimic Italian cuisine.

“yeah. Papyrus sure does have a decorative side, huh?” he asked, seemingly pleased at your observation.

“His creativity is something else.” You agreed, capping the container and sliding it back in the fridge. Looked like dinner was out of the question. “Guess there’s always pizza…” you mumbled.

“how ‘bout Grillby’s?” Sans asked.

You thought about it a moment. “Well, I’m not sure. Think he’d be cool with me stopping in when I’m supposed to be studying?” You asked.

“everyone’s gotta take a break and eat sometime. i’ll cover for ya.” he winked, and you held up your hands in surrender.

“Sounds good to me, then.” 

“cool. you hitchin’ a ride or are we taking your car?” he asked, heading towards the front door.

“Hitching a ride.” Your words were a rush. Sans looked quizzically back at you, and you did your best to keep a straight face. 

Your car was more or less still full of things like your blankets a pillow, your school supplies...whether Fia knew it or not, you’d already started to transition a bit so that it would be easier to just shift into your car when you told her you had somewhere else to go. As it was, you were still unhappy with the fact that she knew. The last thing you wanted was more people in on the secret that you were terrible at looking after yourself.

“alright, bud.” Sans smirked. “had i known you were so  _ tire _ -d of your vehicle i wouldn’t have asked. He turned and made his way towards the door to the garage. “mine it is then.” he shrugged as he moved past you.

He held the door to the garage open for you, and you saw that the vehicle you were expecting, Papyrus’ sports car, was nowhere to be seen. In it’s stead, close to the wall and half covered by a tarp was….oh no…

Sans meandered past you and pulled the rest of the covering off the motorcycle.

A goddamn motorcycle.

“Saaaaans…” you said warily, taking a half step back.

The keys to the motorcycle jingled softly as he twirled them around his index finger. “what’s up, kid?” he asked innocently.

You gestured weakly at the bike. “When you said hitch a ride I expected something with...more wheels...and safety features.”

Sans was grinning, clearly enjoying this. “well i do have helmets, does that count?”

A little.

Not much, but a little.

At your resounding hesitation, his expression fell a little. “we can still take your car if you-”

“No,” you blurted. “Just….give me a second to process this reckless activity in which I’m about to partake.” you mumbled.

Sans grin came back. He turned and pulled a helmet from somewhere and offered it to you. “gimme a  _ brake _ , kid. s’not that bad. and i’m a decent driver, besides.”

You took the helmet and slanted a look at him. He was already on the bike and started the engine. It roared loudly before it settled into a low growl. He cheekily patted the seat behind him.

Grimacing, you pulled on the helmet and cursed under your breath.

Damn pushy skeletons...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh...hey guys...it's um...it's been a while. I want to apologize for the long absence. First off, this chapter was actually scrapped and rewritten more times than I can count. It ended up turning into this instead of what it was originally meant to be, and I think I'm okay with that since it'd pulled me to a dead stop. Other factors in my absence also included school starting up, a small personal episode, and well...I also won't lie, I was slightly distracted (and still am) by piecing together a new fic. I don't think I'll be posting it until I figure out a feasible end for ACoTO (I haven't constructed one at this point). But I'll be honest, it's a lot darker an grittier than anything I've come up with before....and I love it.
> 
> Hopefully, since this chapter was the roadblock for so long and it's been hammered out, it'll be smoother sailing.
> 
> Thanks or being patient. I appreciate you all and your kind comments you've left to encourage me even when I wasn't quite feeling it myself.


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